FE & Skills latest

Speech: British business successes

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 13:22:11 +0000

It was great to hear that litany of British businesses successes.

But Charlie, when you said that “everyone” needs a Tangle Teezer hairbrush. Are you sure you meant everyone? I should add that the 1 haircare product that I do use is also made here in the UK. Mr Sheen.

I know that a couple of years ago the Chancellor stood here and talked a bit about his personal experience of private business. How he grew up watching his dad running the family firm. A firm that employs hundreds of people, turns over millions of pounds, and sells its designer wallpaper right around the world. My early exposure to private business was rather different. The clothes shop my dad ran, for the most part, never had more than 7 employees – him, my mum and, during the school holidays, me and my 4 brothers. That’s why I know more about 1970s ladies fashions than any other male MP. As for exports. Well, I think we once sold a skirt to someone in Wales.

But whether you’re running a small fashion retailer in Bristol, or an international wallpaper designer on the King’s Road.

Whether you’re making folding bicycles or folding ballet pumps.

Whether you’re a kitchen-table start-up or a centuries old family enterprise.

You all face the same challenges when you’re running your own business:

you’re highly exposed to the ups and downs of the economy
a new product line could grow the business if it works, or bring it crashing down if it fails
one late payment from a major client can wreak havoc with your cash flow
it’s rarely easy to find the expert advice you need to help your business expand
and even if you’ve got a great idea, finance from sceptical banks can be hard to come by
you can’t even rely on Dragon’s Den, as Shaun Pulfrey found!

But despite all the barriers, despite all the challenges, the people here tonight have come out on top.

This room is filled with successful businessmen and women. In brewing, retailing, manufacturing, publishing, even corn-popping, you know what it takes to reach the top.

You know how many obstacles you have to overcome.

And you know the scale of the challenge that British businesses faced just 5 years ago:

the worst recession in almost a century
the biggest budget deficit since the Second World War
the world’s largest bank bailout
a nation saddled with debt and an economy struggling to grow

When we came to power, in 2010, we knew that Britain couldn’t have a sustainable recovery without a thriving private sector.

And that’s why we’ve been working tirelessly to support business leaders like you.

Now I know this evening is all about what private businesses have achieved, and I don’t want to be accused of stealing your thunder.

But as Ruby just talked so convincingly about the importance of self-promotion, I’m sure you’ll forgive me for telling you a little bit about what we’ve been doing to help!

we’ve cut red tape and regulation, giving you the flexibility and freedom to run your companies the way you want to run them
we’ve cut corporation tax, so you can invest more of your profits in continued success
we’ve introduced a new employer National Insurance Contribution allowance, lifting 450,000 employers out of NICs altogether
we’ve created a £1.2 billion package to put a 2% cap on increases in your business rates

British Business Bank programmes are already supporting £2.3 billion of finance to 40,000 smaller businesses.

UKTI is helping you access new markets overseas. Only this month I was in China and India, where British private companies are doing just that.

The Start-Up Loans programme has provided entrepreneurs with more than 30,000 loans worth well over £155 million.

And the Business Growth Service has brought together a huge range of advice and expertise to help you expand.

Combining dedicated, dynamic entrepreneurs with a pro-business, pro-growth government has really delivered results.

employment is up - in the last 5 years, we have created more jobs than the rest of the EU put together
inflation is down
the British economy is growing faster than any of our major rivals
the number of small and medium-sized companies that are exporting just keeps on going up

But we’re not about to put up our feet and say “job done”.

I know that businesses like yours have massive potential for further growth, but surveys show that a shortage of skills and finance are hampering that.

So from next April we’re abolishing employer national insurance contributions on apprentices under the age of 25, making it easier than ever for you to take on and train the next generation of talent.

In January we’ll permanently increase the Annual Investment Allowance.

Not just doubling it, or event trebling it, but raising it by massive 700% so you can spend more on the equipment you need in order to expand.

We’re rolling out Growth Hubs across the country, helping you access support where and when you need it most.

And then there’s the Enterprise Bill, which started its passage through Parliament last month.

The bill will cement the UK’s position as the best place in Europe to start and grow a business.

It will cut red tape, reform business rates, make it easier for small businesses to resolve disputes, reward entrepreneurship, generate jobs, boost wages and offer people opportunity at every stage of their lives.

Because this is a government that stands behind you, not in your way.

A government that is unashamedly pro-business, and believes that successful businesses are an asset to be treasured, not a problem to be dealt with.

When I was asked to speak at tonight’s award ceremony, I didn’t hesitate to accept.

Not because of the excellent catering, or because of the quality of the company – although it is of course a pleasure to spend the evening with Charlie!

I wanted to join you here because tonight is all about celebrating private business.

And that’s something politicians simply don’t do enough.

As we’ve already heard, the vast majority of British businesses are in private hands.

They employ millions of people, pay billions in tax, generate over a trillion pounds of revenue.

Yet, too many Business Secretaries have overlooked the private business sector in favour of the more glamorous listed companies. The big names and bright lights of Paternoster Square and Wall Street.

But all businesses start life as private businesses.

Without you there would be no IPOs , no flotations, no stock market.

And without you we wouldn’t have some of Britain’s biggest, best, most dynamic and most exciting companies.

It’s been said that while good companies meet needs, great companies create markets.

And when I look at the list of nominees here tonight I see a list of great companies who have done just that.

So let me be very clear – this is one Business Secretary who appreciates private business.

Who understands the challenges you face, the support you need and, above all, the contribution that you make.

And that is why I’m here tonight.

because successful companies should be applauded.
because entrepreneurs should be saluted.
because private business deserves to be celebrated.

Good luck to all the nominees, congratulations to all the winners, and have a great evening.

News story: Key changes to qualifications regulation come into effect

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:14:51 +0000

The RQF is designed to help people understand qualifications, providing detail on the challenge and size of each qualification we regulate. The framework will also show where a qualification sits in relation to others of differing level or size, like a range of books in a bookcase.

At the same time as introducing the RQF, we are withdrawing the rules of the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). We took this decision because we found that the rules did not always enable the most appropriate qualification and assessment design.

The RQF is not another set of detailed design rules. This means that awarding organisations can focus on designing sufficiently valid qualifications, rather than having to fit them to a prescribed structure. It also means that we can better focus our regulatory approach across the full life cycle of a qualification, including delivery, assessment and evaluation of feedback as well as up front design.

Talking about withdrawing the rules, Jeremy Benson, Executive Director for Vocational Qualifications, said:

We have seen widespread agreement with our proposals to withdraw the QCF rules. They blurred accountability for quality. Without them awarding organisations can focus on what matters, which is the validity of their qualifications.

Jeremy has also written a blog post that explains more about the RQF.

As a result of the changes we have made, our ‘General Conditions of Recognition’ and related guidance have been updated. They came into force as of today.

Press release: Apprentice Jake shortlisted for national industry award

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 11:18:46 +0000

Jake, from Burford, is on the shortlist for the Institution of Engineering & Technology’s 2015 Apprentice of the Year award. He has beaten off competition from around the country to get down to the last three, and the winner will be named at the IET awards ceremony hosted by Maggie Philbin in London on 18 November.

Jake is in the final year of a four-year apprenticeship at Culham, where he is working alongside some of the world’s leading physicists developing nuclear fusion as a future energy source.

He said:

I became interested in engineering at school. I was always keen to figure out how things worked, and would prise apart electronics at home to understand how they operated. I found I had a knack for problem-solving and fixing devices when they broke.

Now in my apprenticeship at Culham I get to work closely with engineers and scientists on exciting projects. Being part of a large team that is all concentrated on one goal teaches you the responsibility of hitting targets, but it also gives you good management and teamwork skills.

Alongside his apprenticeship, Jake is also a ‘STEM ambassador’, promoting apprenticeships and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) careers in schools. In recognition for this he was recently chosen to appear at the Royal Institution in London, where he put on an interactive presentation on fusion power to 200 students from around the UK.

Jake is one of many students who have opted for an apprenticeship route into a career, allowing them to earn and learn at the same time. And he already has his sights on helping UKAEA to solve the energy crisis with nuclear fusion.

After my apprenticeship, I hope to continue my education until degree level. Beyond that I’m very interested in developing new technologies – working in a research company helps this, as we’re constantly developing new techniques to solve problems. I’m looking forward to taking a full-time post with the UKAEA at the end of my apprenticeship and from there anything can happen.

For more information please contact Nick Holloway, Media Manager at nick.holloway@ccfe.ac.uk or on 01235 466232.

Notes to Editors

Culham Apprenticeship Scheme

The Culham Apprenticeship Scheme is run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in partnership with Abingdon & Witney College.
The four-year training programme is based at UKAEA’s research laboratory Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, at Culham Science Centre near Abingdon. Scientists and engineers at Culham operate the European JET fusion experiment and the UK’s own MAST fusion device to study how nuclear fusion – the process that powers the Sun – can be used as a large-scale source of cleaner energy in the power stations of the future.
More information: http://www.culhamapprenticeshipscheme.com

Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) awards

The IET is one of the world’s largest organisations for engineers and technicians. It has nearly 160,000 members in 127 countries around the world.
In 2015, the IET provided over £1 million in awards, prizes and scholarships, to celebrate excellence and innovation in the sector and encourage the next generation of engineers and technicians.
The IET Apprentice and Technician Awards scheme aims to raise the profile of the good work that apprentices and technicians contribute to engineering businesses.
More information: http:/www.theiet.org/awards

Speech: How qualifications can reflect the FELTAG recommendations

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 10:57:22 +0000

Good afternoon.

I can’t hope to compete with Bob Harrison’s presentation earlier, but I thought I’d kick off with a family story and a couple of amusing photos to illustrate a theme for the day and for what I want to say: technology should be a tool with a clear purpose, not an end in itself. And it needs to be used well.

Thinking about today’s conference, I asked my daughter about the on-line homework management service used by her school and she rolled her eyes and said, ‘well it’s fine when the teachers remember to update it’.

And I rather like this, playing back into the discussion before lunch. Even back in the 1960s the Jetsons were predicting that robots would be stood at the front of a classroom.

Although interestingly here, the robot appears to be stood in front of a good old-fashioned chalkboard, maybe about to throw a board rubber.

Whereas in reality it tends to be the other way round: humans stood there at the front, but using more up to date technology.

That interaction between learning and technology, between humans and machines, between the potential for IT and how it’s used in practice; all issues that apply equally to assessment.

And I’m going to concentrate today on assessments - that is, summative assessments - and the qualifications they lead to; you’d expect that from the qualifications regulator.

I’m going to discuss the opportunities to make better use of technology in assessment. How should innovation in qualifications sit alongside innovation in teaching? And what should Ofqual’s role be in that, as the regulator?

To provide some context for those questions, I’m going to start by giving a run-through of our regulatory approach and thinking, and some changes we’re making at the moment.

Let me start with validity: the ambition of every assessment and every qualification - measuring what needs to be measured.

That applies to any sort of assessment, from an old fashioned pen-and-paper exam to a dynamic on-line assessment. It should be the best way of measuring what needs to be measured.

We have no bias in favour of, nor against, technology in assessments. But we have an unapologetic bias in favour of good, valid assessments.

Of course there is often no single best way of assessing something - assessment is so often a compromise. And sometimes different approaches are needed - to test, for example, whether someone has a skill, and also whether they have the knowledge and understanding to know when and how to use that skill.

One good example of this, albeit not a qualification, is the driving test. Students must pass their theory test, but this only examines knowledge of the rules of the road, not the techniques of driving. For that we have the practical driving test. Only if you pass both are you deemed fit to drive.

The theory test is done on screen, because that is a valid, efficient way of doing that test. The practical test, though, remains practical: the most valid way to test whether someone can drive is to watch them drive and to see how well and how safely they cope with being on the road.

So validity is important. How do we regulate for it?

Well, to be clear, we’re not in the business of checking the validity of every single assessment of every single one of the thousands of qualifications we regulate. Even if we had the capacity and expertise to do that, it would not be an efficient, proportionate approach to regulation.

Rather, we set requirements of the awarding organisations we regulate. It is their job to be the experts in the types of assessments they’re offering: to design, deliver and award valid qualifications. Our job is to set clear requirements and check, on the basis of risk, whether those requirements are being met - and of course to consider taking action where they are not.

Awarding organisations therefore need the right capacity and capability. And I’ve set out here some of our expectations of their assessments; they:

should be fit for purpose - that means, of course, they need to have a clear purpose
can be delivered efficiently - an assessment must be manageable by the college or other provider offering it
are cost effective - we know budgets are under strain
permit reasonable adjustments to be made so people with disabilities can be fairly assessed
allow learners to generate evidence that can be authenticated, so everyone can be confident in the integrity of the assessments

But as the regulator, it’s not our job to decide what should be studied or how it should be studied, or what qualifications should be available, or what should be funded from the public purse. It’s our job to make sure that whatever qualifications are offered, they’re valid in the widest sense.

Nor is it our job to specify approaches to assessment. Whether they should use essay questions or multiple choice, or both, or neither, and whether they are on-line or on paper: what matters is, are they valid, and how can the awarding organisation demonstrate that?

I want to make one final, important point about our regulatory approach.

We need to look at the whole lifecycle of a qualification, and to test awarding organisation compliance with our conditions at different points in that lifecycle.

Too often it’s assumed that it’s enough to check a qualification up-front and then let it happen. But in fact, that’s not enough. Every bit of the lifecycle needs to be right. A well-designed qualification can be poorly delivered.

So, whatever type of assessment is used, the processes for securing consistency in the standards of ongoing assessment need to be right. The arrangements for standardising assessor judgements need to be right. The standard-setting decisions need to be consistent. The arrangements for reviewing how qualifications are used need to be effective, and to feed back into the ongoing improvement of the design and operation of the qualifications.

That’s why we removed the accreditation process from our regulatory approach, except for certain qualifications - like GCSEs and A levels - where there’s a good case for it.

We are taking a risk-based approach to determining validity, systematically analysing the information we gather about qualifications and then judging where to focus our regulatory activities. These activities include audits, investigations and technical evaluations of awarding organisations and of their qualifications.

At all times we are testing compliance with our rules and we are ready to take action when we find non-compliance, from directing improvement to fining, or at the most extreme, forcing an awarding organisation from the regulated market.

In other words, regulating.

In case you are not aware, today is an historic day. The last day of September is the last day of the Qualifications and Credit Framework rules. Following extensive review, consultation and discussion over the last couple of years we are removing the QCF rules as of tomorrow. This will free up the awarding organisations to do more interesting, innovative things with their qualifications - a more important change, I think, than anything else we could have done, and of course fully in line with the first of the FELTAG recommendations on regulation.

When the QCF was introduced, the idea was to have a building block approach to learning where students could piece together units of learning, using credit to build qualifications and support their individual progression needs. The QCF therefore set detailed rules about how qualifications should be designed. The problem was that this approach did not work for all types of qualifications or subject areas, and it did not provide any guarantee of quality.

The specific rules introduced to make the QCF work placed much focus on consistency around how qualifications should be structured, but did not focus nearly enough on validity. The rigidness of the rules also meant that awarding organisations found that they could not always take the approaches to assessment that most suited what was being taught. Awarding organisations also told us that the rules, at times, stopped them from innovating.

We weren’t really surprised then, that when we consulted on removing the QCF rules last year, there was widespread agreement with our proposals. We’ve worked closely with awarding organisations, government and other agencies to take the best approach to withdrawing the rules.

Note that I’ve talked about removing the QCF rules, not removing QCF qualifications. If awarding organisations are satisfied that their qualifications designed to meet the QCF rules are valid, then we will not require them to be changed just because the rules are no longer in force. Unlike when the QCF was introduced, we are not requiring a big, disruptive investment in changing existing qualifications.

I hesitated a bit before including this slide, which tries to explain our new regulated qualifications framework using the analogy of a bookcase.

Unlike the QCF, which took a prescriptive approach - prescribing how qualifications should be designed - our new framework, called the RQF, is a descriptive framework. It seeks to help people to understand something about the qualifications we regulate: how demanding they are and how big they are.

Just like books on a bookshelf: you can tell something about a book from which shelf it’s on. The RQF carries forward the previous levels, though with some changes to the detailed descriptors, from Entry Level up to Level 8, which is doctorate level. You can also see at a glance how big the book is.

But of course what really matters is what is in the book - just as what matters in a qualification is what skills and knowledge it is testing. For that, you need to look in more detail. We do have an online solution to that - we are developing a new, more user-friendly register of qualifications with greatly improved search functionality. Do have a look at the alpha version on our website.

I should mention too that there was concern from Bob and some of his colleagues that our original proposals weren’t sufficiently e-friendly. We considered these concerns and decided that they were right. So we changed and simplified our plans. Qualification size will now be measured through Total Qualification Time, or TQT, with Guided Learning Hours as a subset of that. These values make no assumption about delivery or assessment methods.

So the removal of the QCF and the changes to the framework serve to free up a clogged regulatory space, and say to the awarding organisations: right, over to you now. The way is clear for you to produce the best qualifications you can, and to innovate if you will.

So let me turn now to the question of innovation in assessment.

As ever, our main question for assessments - innovative or not, technology-enabled or not - is: are they valid? And I would suggest that this is a good starting point for awarding organisations and others thinking about innovation too.

But there are other questions to consider as well, when thinking about the reasons for innovating. As I said at the beginning, technology is not an end in itself.

Technology can enhance assessment - allow skills or knowledge to be assessed in more valid or efficient ways. It may be fairer if it reflects more closely how students have been taught - though it’s not essential for innovations in teaching to feed through into assessment approaches; they are different types of things. People should not assume that things taught on-line need to be assessed on-line, or vice versa. Assessment needs to be consistent enough across the country that the awarding organisations can be confident that the standard is the same; that the qualification awarded in Newquay means the same as the qualification awarded in Newcastle.

Perhaps assessment can engage students - though not at the expense of validity of course.

And technology can make some assessment risks easier to manage, but introduce some new ones too.

So by all means innovate in assessment. But be clear why you’re doing it. Focus on validity. And don’t bundle assessment in with teaching, or assume that the approaches that work there will always work for assessment.

So what does this mean for how we regulate?

The main risk for any regulator is always that we get in the way of innovation. We might set rules that assume particular ways of doing things or prevent risk-taking. As I’ve said, the QCF was a good example of that.

That’s why we have a legal duty to have regard to the desirability of innovation. A duty, of course, that we take very seriously. Our aim is to allow and to enable awarding organisations to innovate, including in the use of technology, and not to be constrained by our rules. Our rules are therefore outcome-focused, looking at what qualifications are aiming to do and trying not to make assumptions about how they might do it. And we invite awarding organisations to tell us where we’re getting this wrong - this very issue was discussed through the FELTAG process.

So of course we are keeping our rules under review with innovation and technology in mind. We intend to set out by spring next year our approach to innovation. We will shortly be starting discussions, initially with awarding organisations, to check that our approach to regulation isn’t preventing innovation. Other regulators will be producing innovation plans too.

Let me emphasise, though, that it’s not our job to push innovation. The world needs people who challenge existing thinking, encourage risk-taking, rethink what a qualification should be in an e-enabled world. But if we were to do that, there would be no one to do that boring but important task of making sure that the qualifications, so important to students’ life-chances, could be trusted.

No, the best a regulator can do is enable, and not get in the way. We cannot and should not try to force technology on awarding organisations: if there are old-fashioned approaches to assessment that remain valid and appropriate, it’s not our job to try and stop that. The leadership for and the demand for innovation needs to come from elsewhere: from the market, from employers, from policy-makers, from funders. All of you in this room can play a role here.

We will also be looking at how we can make better use of technology ourselves.

While we have been consulting about removing the QCF rules, we have also been in discussion about replacing our current regulatory IT system, to develop something that is more responsive to the rules that will be in place in the future. We have been careful to refer to those who have to use the system, to make sure that the new system minimises burden, streamlines the data we collect and doesn’t have a negative impact on the system’s users when it’s introduced. It will also enable us to better interpret the data we collect, giving us even more intelligent insight into the qualifications market. And it will support the new register of qualifications which I’ve already mentioned.

** slide 11 So it will not surprise you to learn that we were broadly comfortable with the first half of the FELTAG recommendation. If others want to encourage e-assessment, fine. Our only stipulation: yes, it should be valid.

But should half of all vocational assessments be online from 2018/19? I don’t know. That might be too much or even too little, and I don’t know how that figure was arrived at.

In particular, I don’t see how some of the critical assessments of occupational competence - such as plumbing or welding - could be validly assessed on-line, and I found it quite disappointing that the FELTAG report did not acknowledge or engage with that issue. And such a blanket target risks looking like ‘technology for the sake of it’. I don’t think that’s what anyone wants.

That said, I take this recommendation in the spirit I think it was intended: as a healthy challenge to the qualifications industry. And there is much still to be done to make the case and engage with assessment experts on the issues it raises.

Though we should acknowledge that there has been investment in technology by the awarding organisations.

** slide 12

Here are some of the things that already happen in different parts of the qualifications world.

The bigger exam boards offering GCSEs and A levels conduct almost all of their marking on screen now, using technology to scan and then issue questions to markers around the country - even the world in some cases - and carrying out training and standardisation of markers through online forums and webinars as well.

Many functional skills and other qualifications are now assessed online, using on-demand assessment. Some awarding organisations offering high volume qualifications have found that it’s made both operational and commercial sense to move course administration and some testing online. Technology is being used to streamline processes for student registration, monitoring of student progress, requesting moderation and printing certificates.

Assessment has moved online, for example multiple choice tests, where online portals can provide individualised tests in what are effectively internet ‘safe zones’. Organisations use algorithms that pull questions randomly from question banks, and these algorithms ensure the standards of the tests remain at the right level of demand, while making sure that all the students do not receive the same questions, thus preventing too much predictability in the test.

What’s important is that the technology is being used to support the validity and efficient delivery of some assessments, by some awarding organisations.

** slide 13

But I know that some of you will feel that there is so much more that could and should be done. That ‘some assessments by some awarding organisations’ is not good enough for 2015.

So let me finish with what I hope is a constructive suggestion.

If I was one of those of you frustrated by the slow pace of change, I would be developing a three-point action plan that - in outline - looked something like this.

First, make the case. What are the opportunities that technology offers assessment? How can it improve validity, reliability or efficiency? What global examples can you point to that show what can be achieved? What can ‘thinking differently’ look like for assessment? Where is there a need to disrupt conventional thinking about qualifications? And what does that mean in practice?

Second, try and create demand. Particularly in tough times, awarding organisations - whether they are commercial or charitable bodies - will respond to what their customers are looking for. When colleges demand more interesting, innovative assessments; when they start asking for advice and support on improving technology through qualifications - then awarding organisations will have an incentive to start investing in them; as David said earlier, to use technology well requires investment - it’s not a cheap option for assessment more than any other area. As someone said recently, don’t wait for Westminster; don’t expect a top-down target to do the trick. And, by the way, don’t expect Ofqual to mandate e-assessment, because we won’t.

Third, recognise that there are some real challenges as well as opportunities in rolling out e-assessment. Talk to the awarding organisations about how you can help them to learn from good practice including overseas, to research what works and what doesn’t, and to try out different approaches.

I think there’s a gaping space here where there could be leadership, vision and innovation, to take the qualifications industry forward.

And what about Ofqual? We’ll be watching with interest. We’ll help you if we can to try and make connections with the awarding organisations. We’ll be trying not to get in the way. And - yes - we’ll keep focusing unashamedly on validity. On-line or on paper, what we’re about is good qualifications.

Thank you.

Press release: Government introduces largest ever increase to apprentices’ wages

Wed, 30 Sep 2015 23:15:00 +0000

over 1 million working people will receive a pay rise today when the National Minimum Wage goes up
apprentices get biggest ever rise
over £1,000 increase in yearly pay packet for full time apprentices

From Thursday 1 October 2015, the apprentice rate of the National Minimum Wage ( NMW ) goes up by 57 pence to £3.30 and the NMW rate for adult workers will rise by 20 pence from £6.50 to £6.70 per hour.

The boost for apprentices is the largest ever and means that those working 40 hours a week will now have £1,185 more in their pay packet over the year.

By implementing a rate higher than the Low Pay Commission’s ( LPC ) recommendation apprenticeships will deliver a wage that is comparable to other choices for work.

The 3% increase in the adult rate is the biggest real increase since 2006 and moves the NMW closer to the average wage than ever before. The new rate means that a full time employee, working 40 hours, will see the largest cash increase in their annual pay packets since 2008.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

As a one nation government we are making sure that every part of Britain benefits from our growing economy and today more than 1.4 million of Britain’s lowest-paid workers will be getting a well-deserved pay rise.

The increase for apprentices is the largest in history making sure that apprenticeships remain an attractive option for young people. While the National Minimum Wage will see the largest real-terms increase since 2007.

From 1 October 2015:

the adult rate will increase by 20 pence to £6.70 per hour
the rate for 18 to 20 year olds will increase by 17 pence to £5.30 per hour
the rate for 16 to 17 year olds will increase by 8 pence to £3.87 per hour
the apprentice rate will increase by 57 pence to £3.30 per hour
the accommodation offset increases from the current £5.08 to £5.35

Notes to editors:

The Apprentice Rate applies to all apprentices in year 1 of an apprenticeship, and 16 to 18 year old apprentices in any year of an apprenticeship. The LPC recommended that the new rate be set at £2.80 but the government has implemented a higher rate of £3.30.
From April 2016, the government will introduce a new mandatory National Living Wage ( NLW ) for workers aged 25 years and above, initially set at £7.20.

Press release: Bogus training courses come under fire

Sat, 19 Sep 2015 23:15:07 +0000

students offered fake apprenticeships – later to find out they are unqualified
government crackdown on dodgy providers and bogus training courses
businesses and training providers support government crackdown

A family firm of electricians in Milton Keynes and the building company Balfour Beatty told a government consultation they found students being lured into apprenticeships which offered low-level training. At the end of the training programme the students were severely underqualified and were not in a real job.

The cases came to light as the government introduces new powers to prosecute training providers misusing the term ‘apprenticeship’. In the future, anyone offering fake or low-quality apprenticeships training could face the possibility of a fine and prosecution in a Magistrates Court. The government is committed to giving apprenticeships similar legal protection as university degrees.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said:

Everyone knows what a university degree means. It’s an official title. Young people doing apprenticeships should get the same level of distinction.

I’m supporting working people by defining the word ‘apprenticeship’ in law. This will ensure people get the best training and opportunities.

Balfour Beatty, who currently recruits approximately 150 apprentices a year, welcomed the protection.

Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty Group Chief Executive said:

Protecting and enhancing apprenticeships as proposed by the government’s Enterprise Bill will further build the status of apprenticeships and help to encourage business to invest in them.

Our industry needs talent and skills, therefore it is crucial that apprenticeships remain world-class so that we can continue to attract the best and brightest individuals.

SJD Electrical, a family-run business in Milton Keynes, also welcomed the proposals, highlighting the negative impact of low-quality training courses.

Ruth Devine, Director at SJD Electrical said:

Protecting the term ‘apprenticeship’ will help us attract the most able individuals and offer a guarantee to apprentices that they will receive world-class training.

A number of applicants applying for jobs at SJD who thought they had completed apprenticeships, were surprised to find that they were not fully qualified. Low quality training courses contribute to the many instances of poor workmanship we come across.

Apprenticeships have proven crucial to provide businesses with the talent and skills they need to grow and the government is committed to supporting 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020.

Notes to editors:

The government ran a consultation on protecting the term ‘apprenticeship’ from 29 July 2015 to 19 August 2015. The consultation was sent to over 500 key stakeholders and was put on the gov.uk and Citizen Space websites.
Over 90 responses were received from a wide variety of interested parties including employers, private training providers, colleges, schools, universities, apprentices and representative groups.
The government response to the consultation will be published on Monday 21 September 2015.
Examples of the apprenticeship term being misused include:
- students thinking they had completed an apprenticeship but actually had only taken a low-level technical qualification
- students having to find other employers to continue to achieve the qualifications required to complete a full apprenticeship
- employers finding students entering the industry only part-qualified and without adequate learning, work-based experience and practical skills
Measures to protect the term ‘apprenticeship’ are contained in the Enterprise Bill. The Enterprise Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 16 September 2015.
The measures do not affect companies who offer their own high-quality internal apprenticeship scheme.

News story: Transport Secretary hails Birmingham New Street station transformation

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 13:01:44 +0000

£750 million revamp of busiest station outside London unveiled ahead of opening to public
improvements include capacity boost, refurbished platforms, better passenger information and smart-ticketing gates
development features new shopping centre creating hundreds of jobs

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin visited Birmingham New Street station today (18 September 2015) to mark the completion of a 5 year programme to transform facilities for passengers.

The new station has been overhauled to dramatically improve station capacity and the passenger experience, with a spectacular new atrium over the concourse, which is now 5 times the size of London Euston.

The station development will also act as a catalyst for regeneration in Birmingham city centre, with the new Grand Central Shopping Centre and John Lewis store being built as part of the development offering hundreds of new jobs.

Chancellor George Osborne said:

This £750 million investment to modernise Birmingham New Street station is at the heart of our plans to use the power of infrastructure to build a more healthy, balanced and productive economy right across the Midlands.

We are committed to build the Midlands engine, set to boost growth by attracting local jobs and investment, and today’s announcement shows we are delivering on our long-term economic plan for the region.

Patrick McLoughlin said:

The transformation of Birmingham New Street is a prime example of how our record investment in the railways is improving journeys for hardworking people and helping to rebalance the economy by driving growth across the country.

The improvements made at this important transport hub have made it into a truly impressive building that passengers and the people of Birmingham can use and enjoy.

The project to transform the country’s busiest station outside London has been funded by:

Department for Transport
Network Rail
Birmingham City Council
Centro
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The new station will deliver:

far greater passenger capacity on the concourse, which will also have natural daylight for the first time
refurbished and decluttered platforms
new touch-screen passenger information
larger waiting areas
more toilets
improved retail
a new ticket office
better safety and security systems

There are 15 new lifts and 36 escalators, serving every platform. From 20 September, 66 smartcard-enabled ticket gates will be ready to use. This means passengers will be able to travel seamlessly between regional rail, bus and tram services, as part of a scheme introduced over the coming months and next year.

More than 1,300 Birmingham residents have been involved in the scheme so far, including 250 who were previously unemployed. The project has supported more than 100 young people into apprenticeships. Phase one of the project, including a new concourse, escalators and lifts, opened on 28 April 2013. The new concourse will be fully open to passengers on Sunday 20 September, and the new Grand Central Shopping Centre will open shortly after on 24 September.

The station has been rebuilt while trains have continued to run for the 170,000 passengers who use it every day.

Mark Carne, Chief Executive of Network Rail, said:

Birmingham New Street sits right at the heart of our rail network and the transformation which has taken place here is nothing short of stunning. The station is now bigger, brighter and better able to meet the needs of the growing number of people who use it each day.

As Britain’s second city, Birmingham deserves a station of this calibre and, along with Grand Central, the investment we have made will help support the local economy and regenerate large parts of city centre.

Rebuilding one of the busiest stations in the country without impacting on passengers’ journeys has been a major challenge, but I’m extremely proud to say that Network Rail and our partners on this project have done just that. That’s a significant achievement for everyone who has helped build this fantastic new station of which they, and all of Birmingham, can be very proud indeed.

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News story: Anna Soubry introduces the Enterprise Bill (video)

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 20:57:00 +0000

Anna Soubry introduces the Enterprise Bill

Hello, my name is Anna Soubry, I am the Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise. And I am really pleased that we are now in a position whereby we can publish the Enterprise Bill. I hope you’ll carry on on the website, read the bill and get to know and understand it.

But my task, if you like today, is to explain that there are really 3 key elements to the bill. The first is the creation of a Small Business Commissioner, and his or her role will be there to help small businesses who are having particular problems with late payments. We know that’s a big problem for a large number of our small businesses. So part of this is will be the mediation that’s available, and also, when small businesses have a complaint, they can take that complaint if the circumstances are right to the Small Business Commissioner.

Another part of the bill is to continue our work on deregulation; we’re bringing in more regulators so that they’re within the scope of our absolute determination to reduce the burden on businesses. In the last government we reduced that burden by about £10 billion, and it’s our absolute ambition to achieve the same in the next 5 years.

The third part of the bill is about apprenticeships. We know how important it is that our young people have the right skills. And under the last government we had real success with our apprenticeship scheme, and our aim is to continue that scheme and expand it – create 3 million more apprentices.

One of the things we are going to do is enshrine effectively in law to protect the term ‘apprentice’, because we know it means a lot, it has high value, and it’s important that we protect that term in law.

So they are the 3 biggest parts of the bill. And as I say, I hope you’ll read the bill, it’s on the website, and if you’ve got any comments on it, we’d like to hear from you.

Press release: UK-China education partnership reaches new heights

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:39:48 +0000

Minister for Universities and Science Jo Johnson and China’s Minister of Education Yuan Guiren signed an ambitious framework agreement on education collaboration at the third UK/China People to People Dialogue in London today (17 September).

A total of 23 education agreements were signed at the 8th UK-China Education Summit, part of the People to People dialogue, which will see UK universities and organisations working closely with partners in China to boost joint academic research and student exchange, and to establish new institutions.

Culminating in the signing of a ‘UK-China Strategic Framework in Education’ both countries announced their commitment to expanding collaboration across higher, vocational and school education, and to work closely together in sports education.

Minister for Universities and Science Jo Johnson said:

Our relationship with China is entering a new phase of scientific and educational collaboration on an unprecedented scale. Our agreement will bring researchers together to address global challenges, change the lives of young people through better access to sports, and build partnerships across school, vocational and higher education to provide students in both countries with the right skills to become the leaders of the future.

Ministers from both countries witnessed signings that will see the UK working with China in the development of its sports education, with a focus on football. A joint football accreditation system will be developed, opening doors for Chinese football coaches to be trained in the UK, feeding into a national drive by the Chinese government to grow its sports sector.

Agreements were also signed to increase exchanges among researchers in the UK and China and to build their skills to enable further collaborations.

In addition, links will be created between 200 schools in the UK and China to organise exchange visits and work together on policy and curriculum development, in an effort to improve the provision of high-quality basic education in both countries. Science, technology, engineering and maths ( STEM ), language, sports, arts and other creative subjects will be a major focus of this collaboration.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Education collaboration between the UK and China is vital if we are to learn from each other’s successes and to help us use international evidence of best practice to drive up academic standards in our schools.

The innovative maths teacher exchange is already improving maths teaching in England’s primary schools, but there is still much more both countries can learn from one another.

These new partnerships will allow us to share as well as helping to develop important language skills to secure stronger links in the future.

Notes to editors

UK-China Strategic Framework in Education

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and China’s Ministry of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the ‘UK-China Strategic Framework in Education’, formalising both countries’ commitment to working together in the 6 key areas of higher education, vocational education, schools, language, sports, and mobility.

Press release: Business backed by new Enterprise Bill

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 13:42:36 +0000

new measures aim to speed up insurance payments to business and give further powers to government for broadband investment
Small Business Commissioner will help small businesses resolve payment disputes with larger firms
regulators will contribute to ambitious £10 billion cutting red tape target

The government today (17 September 2015) publishes an Enterprise Bill that backs business to drive growth, create jobs and ensure economic security for all.

The bill will help tackle the scandal of late payments holding back many small businesses, ensure high quality apprenticeships, and make further cuts to burdensome red tape for the first time including the actions of regulators.

New measures announced today include:

a clamp down on the late payment of insurance claims to help businesses recover faster from fires and floods. There is currently no clear requirement for insurers to pay undisputed claims to businesses in a reasonable amount of time – this measure will introduce such a requirement into every contract of insurance
the Enterprise Bill will also update the Industrial Development Act to give new powers for government to fund new broadband projects across the country, for the benefit of industry or local communities

The Enterprise Bill will set up a Small Business Commissioner to help small firms handle disputes with larger businesses over issues like late payment, which costs small firms £26.8 billion.

The bill will also allow the government’s ambitious £10 billion cutting red tape target to be extended to include the actions of regulators for the first time.

Encouraging businesses to invest in the skills of their staff is a vital part of the government’s plan to boost productivity in the UK. The Enterprise Bill includes a measure to prevent people passing off poor quality training schemes as ‘apprenticeships’ and will set targets for the number of apprentices taken on by public bodies. This will ensure the public sector leads by example and invests in a highly-skilled workforce.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

The government is committed to making sure the UK continues to be the best place in Europe to do business. The Enterprise Bill will help do just that with measures to cut red tape, protect high-quality apprenticeships and deal with unfair payment practices hitting small firms.

I firmly believe that to reap rewards for working people across the country we need to get behind our great British businesses.

Small Business, Industry and Enterprise Minister Anna Soubry said:

Our Enterprise Bill will help tackle some of the biggest issues facing business today. Overzealous regulation and unacceptable late payments are just some of the issues targeted in a comprehensive package of measures designed to give a boost to the UK economy.

This is about letting businesses get on with what they do best, while taking sensible action to support those that need it.

The Enterprise Bill will also extend the Primary Authority scheme, which has already helped over 7,000 businesses comply with local regulations.

Proposals are being published today to open up the scheme to thousands more small firms and entrepreneurs. They will also make trusted regulatory advice from a single local authority available to all businesses across England and Wales, whatever their size.

This will bring benefits to growth and productivity, and businesses are encouraged to respond to the proposals to help shape them.

Further measures in the Enterprise Bill will:

make regulators report annually on the impact their actions have on business
put a stop to taxpayer-funded, six-figure pay offs in the public sector
improve the business rates appeals system
stop business ratepayers from having to share the same information twice with local government and the Valuation Office Agency

See the full list of Enterprise Bill measures here

Notes to editors:

The Enterprise Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 16 September and published on 17 September 2015.
The following measures extend to the whole of the UK: Small Business Commissioner, Regulators (for non-devolved matters), Primary Authority scheme (for non-devolved matters in Scotland and in Northern Ireland), late payment of insurance claims, Industrial Development Act, Public Sector exit payments.
- The following measures extend to England and Wales: Business rates
- The following measures apply in England only: Apprenticeships
For further information on the territorial extent of the measures in the Enterprise Bill please read the explanatory notes
In July 2015, Bacs reported that small and medium businesses are owed a total of £26.8 billion in overdue late payments and that £10.8 billion is spent per year in attempts to recover overdue payments.
Since its introduction, Primary Authority has provided assurance to 7,695 businesses, doubling membership every year of the last Parliament. It now covers over 250,000 premises across the UK. Read more details in the proposals to extend the scheme.
The late payment of insurance measure was recommended by the Law Commission, which conducted a survey in 2011 suggesting that late payment occurs in up to 10% of insurance claims.

Press release: PM's Extremism Taskforce: tackling extremism in universities and colleges top of the agenda

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 23:00:03 +0000

Jo Johnson writes to NUS to challenge their anti-Prevent agenda
Part of government’s one nation strategy, led by the Prime Minister’s Extremism Taskforce, to confront and ultimately defeat extremism

For the first time, universities and colleges in the UK will be legally required to put in place specific policies to stop extremists radicalising students on campuses, tackle gender segregation at events and support students at risk of radicalisation, as part of the government’s plans to counter extremism.

The updated Prevent duty guidance, scheduled to come into force at all UK higher and further education institutions by 21 September, requires establishments to ensure they have proper risk assessment processes for speakers and ensure those espousing extremist views do not go unchallenged. The guidance also sets out that institutions must ensure that they have appropriate IT policies, staff training and student welfare programmes in place to recognise and respond to the signs of radicalisation. This is all part of the government’s one nation strategy to confront and ultimately defeat the threat of extremism and terrorism, top of the agenda today at the first Extremism Taskforce meeting of this Parliament chaired by the Prime Minister.

Last year at least 70 events featuring hate speakers were held on campuses, according to the government’s new Extremism Analysis Unit, established to support all government departments and the wider public sector to understand extremism so they can deal with extremists appropriately. The latest police statistics show that young people continue to make up a disproportionately high number of those arrested for terrorist-related offences and of those travelling to join terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

I said in July that tackling extremism will be the struggle of our generation, one which we will defeat if we work together.

All public institutions have a role to play in rooting out and challenging extremism. It is not about oppressing free speech or stifling academic freedom, it is about making sure that radical views and ideas are not given the oxygen they need to flourish. Schools, universities and colleges, more than anywhere else, have a duty to protect impressionable young minds and ensure that our young people are given every opportunity to reach their potential. That is what our one nation government is focused on delivering.

As part of this work, the Universities Minister Jo Johnson has written to the National Union of Students to remind them of their responsibilities in preventing radicalisation and challenging speakers. In the letter he says :

Universities represent an important arena for challenging extremist views. It is important there can be active challenge and debate on issues relating to counter terrorism and provisions for academic freedom are part of the Prevent guidance for universities and colleges. It is my firm view that we all have a role to play in challenging extremist ideologies and protecting students on campus. Ultimately, the Prevent strategy is about protecting people from radicalisation. It is therefore disappointing to see overt opposition to the Prevent programme…The legal duty that will be placed on universities and colleges highlights the importance that the government places on this.

The Business Secretary has also instructed the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), as the lead regulator for higher education in England, to monitor universities’ implementation and compliance with the duty. Continued failure to comply could ultimately result in a court order.

Notes to editors

The Extremism Analysis Unit (EAU) has been established to support all government departments and the wider public sector to understand extremism so they can deal with extremists appropriately. In 2014 there were at least 70 events involving speakers who are known to have promoted rhetoric that aimed to undermine core British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, held on university campuses.

Queen Mary, King’s College, SOAS and Kingston University held most events. Events included the hosting of 6 speakers that are on record as expressing views contrary to British values, including Haitham Al-Haddad, Dr Uthman Lateef, Alomgir Ali, Imran Ibn Mansur (aka ‘Dawah Man’), Hamza Tzortis and Dr Salman Butt.

Institutions are already required to pay regard to their existing responsibilities in relation to gender segregation, as outlined in the guidance produced in 2014 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Prevent Duty Guidance makes it a legal requirement (Section 29 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015). The duty is about protecting people from the poisonous and pernicious influence of extremist ideas that are used to legitimise terrorism.

People committing terrorist-related offences while at a UK university:

Erol Incedal, a law student at London South Bank University (LSBU), who was found guilty of possession of a bomb-making manual, in November 2014
Afsana Kayum, sentenced in March 2015 to 18 months in jail, for possession of a record containing information useful in the commission of terrorism contrary to the Terrorism Act – Kayum was a law student at the University of East London (UEL) at the time of her arrest

People who have attended a UK university and convicted of their role in terrorism and have likely been at least partially radicalised during their studies:

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, convicted in 2012 of attempted murder and terrorism, after trying to bomb a passenger flight to Detroit in 2009 – during his time at UCL, he had repeatedly contacted extremists who were under MI5 surveillance;
Roshonara Choudhry, who tried to assassinate the Labour MP Stephen Timms in May 2010, just weeks after dropping out of KCL because of its work with Israeli institutions and its research centre studying radicalisation

Radicalised foreign fighters who have studied in the UK:

Aqsa Mahmood, a radiography student at Glasgow Caledonian University, who dropped out of her course and travelled to Syria in late 2013
David Souaan, convicted, in December 2014, of preparing for terrorist acts – Souaan was a student at Birkbeck, University of London when he was arrested in May 2014 as he attempted to travel to Syria for a second time
Rashed Amani, believed to have travelled to Syria in March 2014 – Amani had been enrolled on a Business Studies course at Coventry University
Zubair Nur, reported to have travelled to Syria in March 2015, after it emerged that Royal Holloway, University of London had contacted his parents to inform them he had not attended lectures since January

Speech: Higher education: fulfilling our potential

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 10:00:19 +0000

Introduction – reflections on this year’s university admissions

It’s a pleasure to be here at the start of a new academic year.

And it is a vintage one.

Record numbers of students accepted onto their first choice courses. Record numbers applying from disadvantaged backgrounds. And record numbers studying science subjects.

Every single additional place we make available will change someone’s life forever.

I felt this myself when I joined the call centre team at UCAS in Cheltenham on A Level results day and listened to the explosion of excitement down the telephone line when a student who feared the worst learnt he had secured a place at Oxford Brookes.

A story made possible because of the steps taken by this government. Half a century ago, the Robbins Report said university places “should be available to all who are qualified by ability and attainment to pursue them.”

We are the first government to live up to this guiding principle. Our mission as a one nation government is to ensure everyone has the opportunity to work hard and fulfil their potential. By lifting the cap on student numbers, we have ensured that our world-class higher education system is open to anyone with the potential to benefit from it.

We have no target for the “right” size of the higher education system, but believe it should evolve in response to demand from students and employers, reflecting the needs of the economy.

That’s why we must make sure that the young people who made it through the UCAS clearing process this summer feel it was all worthwhile, that more does not mean worse. They must receive the rigorous, stimulating education they want and society needs.

Green paper aims

My plan today is to set out a broader vision for higher education, foreshadowing a green paper we will publish in the autumn.

Looking back at 2011, when we published Students at the Heart of the System, it is clear that huge progress has been made: in transparency and widening participation, but also in the way the system has been put on a sustainable financial footing and been opened up to competition, with more new providers allowed to enter the market in the last 5 years than at any time since 1992.

But there is considerable unfinished business and the green paper will seek views on the changes the government believes will be necessary to ensure that higher education continues to be a great national success story in the years to come.

Teaching at the heart of the system

At the centre of this vision are the young people contemplating their futures in a world where no one owes them a living, where they must depend on their wits and drive to survive.

Well-equipped students ready to contribute to society and to businesses keen to employ increasing numbers of skilled graduates. That was the focus of my last speech to you and it remains my overriding priority.

We have all been reminded of the scale of the challenge by a recent CIPD survey suggesting that almost 60% of graduates are in non-graduate jobs.

While it may overstate matters — official statistics show that in fact only 20% of recent graduates did not find a graduate level job within 3 years of leaving college — it is clear that universities must do more to demonstrate they add real and lasting value for all students.

Now that we are asking young people to meet more of the costs of their degrees once they are earning, we in turn must do more than ever to ensure they can make well-informed choices, and that the time and money they invest in higher education is well spent.

As I said in my speech in July, the key to that is, in my view, great teaching, combined with rigorous assessment, useful feedback and preparation for the world of work.

Our plans to introduce new incentives for universities to focus on teaching, via the Teaching Excellence Framework ( TEF ) promised in our manifesto, will be a critical element of this autumn’s consultation.

Speaking to parents and students since taking on this job has confirmed for me the extent to which teaching is highly variable across higher education.

There are inspiring academics who go the extra mile, supporting struggling students, emailing feedback at weekends and giving much more of their time than duty demands.

These are the people who will change our children’s lives and I want every student to learn from and have access to the kind of teacher who suffered me when I was an undergraduate.

People like Martin Conway, who could make even Belgian stamps interesting as we learnt about the construction of post-war Europe; or Judith Brown, the biographer of Gandhi, who sparked in me a lasting interest in modern India.

But there are also institutions and individual academics that take a different approach; that have struck what academics David Palfreyman and Ted Tapper describe as a “disengagement contract” with their students:

This goes along the lines of ‘I don’t want to have to set and mark much by way of essays and assignments which would be a distraction from my research, and you don’t want to do coursework that would distract you from partying: so we’ll award you the degree as the hoped-for job ticket in return for compliance with minimal academic requirements and due receipt of fees’.

This is not a contract I want taxpayers to underwrite.

Because many universities see their reputation, their standing in prestigious international league tables and their marginal funding as being principally determined by scholarly output, teaching has regrettably been allowed to become something of a poor cousin to research in parts of our system.

I hear this when I talk to worried parents, such as the physics teacher whose son dropped out at the start of year two of a humanities programme at a prestigious London university, having barely set eyes on his tutor. Her other son, by contrast, studying engineering at Bristol, saw the system at its best: he was worked off his feet, with plenty of support and mostly excellent teaching.

This patchiness in the student experience within and between institutions cannot continue. There is extraordinary teaching that deserves greater recognition. And there is lamentable teaching that must be driven out of our system. It damages the reputation of UK higher education and I am determined to address it.

Greater transparency from providers

Since the 2012 reforms, student choice has become a key driver of change, but there are still significant information asymmetries. It is not at all clear to some students what their tuition fees of up-to £9,000 a year actually pay for, and this has led to calls, which I support, for greater transparency from providers about what they spend fee income on.

This will mean providers becoming much clearer with students about what they can expect during their time at university. The new framework will aim to give students more information about the actual teaching they will receive, drive up student engagement with the learning process and reward universities that do most to stretch young - and also not so young - minds.

It will help, I hope, create a culture where teaching has equal status with research, with our great teachers enjoying the same professional recognition and opportunities for career and pay progression as our great researchers.

I recognise that many institutions are already thinking in this way and that the National Student Survey has started to shift the focus back towards teaching, feedback and academic support within universities. But some still do not do nearly enough.

While there will be financial incentives behind the TEF , with those offering high quality teaching able to increase fees with inflation, the TEF will not just be about accessing additional funds – I want it to bring about a fundamental shift in how we think about and value teaching in our universities.

Widening participation

Raising the quality of teaching is at the heart of the green paper, but our ambitions extend beyond this important goal. As a one nation government, our focus is on driving forward social mobility. That’s why the green paper will also consult on how we can accelerate progress in widening participation, so that many more people with ability can benefit from higher education.

Our universities should be open to everyone who can benefit from them, regardless of family background or ability to pay.

The Prime Minister is committed to doubling the entry rate from disadvantaged backgrounds by 2020, compared to 2009 levels.

We also want to see a 20% increase in the number of black and minority ethnic students going to university by 2020, with matched improvements in their completion rates and progression into work. Young people with a Caribbean heritage will need special attention as part of this work and I will be discussing this with HEFCE and OFFA , and my counterparts at the Department for Education.

Among the many concerning features highlighted by BIS research into this issue is the persistent underperformance in education of white children eligible for free school meals. The problem is particularly acute for disadvantaged white boys. Barely 10% of white British boys from the most disadvantaged backgrounds go to university, making them 5 times less likely to study at this level than the most advantaged white boys. They are also doing worse compared to the most disadvantaged among other ethnic groups, with participation rates over 20% for boys of black Caribbean heritage, nearly 50% for boys of Indian heritage and over 60% for boys of Chinese heritage.

Prior attainment in school is a major factor driving differences in participation, but attitudes towards university, which can be shaped by good careers advice and employer engagement, also play a part. Discussions with Office for Fair Access have suggested that there is the potential for us to have significant impact by raising the profile of this group, which has not been specifically targeted in the past.

This needs serious attention and I will be writing to OFFA asking them to focus on this in their guidance to institutions on 2017 to 2018 access agreements.

To make our work on widening participation effective, we need the best possible data.

UCAS in particular holds and publishes vast amounts of data on the outcomes of the admissions process, but to target widening participation efforts more effectively we need a better understanding of how students’ background, prior attainment and course choices lead to an offer of a place.

That’s why I have written to UCAS asking them to publish a recent analysis of offers, broken down by ethnic group and type of institution. They have also agreed to publish the data underpinning this work and extend their analysis to other protected and disadvantaged groups. The first analysis will be published in the next few weeks.

But we need to go further to increase confidence that the system treats all applicants fairly. I want to see much more data being made available for academics to analyse and potentially link with other data sets. I’m pleased that UCAS has agreed to start sharing data through the secure platform developed by the Administrative Data Research Network. And they have agreed to look at all ways to make this data as useful as possible for researchers.

This is an important step forward. But there will be more work to do to increase the data available and ensure the trust of students who are involved. This is an issue for the whole sector to address, which is why I want you to consider what additional information universities can provide to support our collective efforts to widen participation.

A level playing field for new providers

To ensure students have real choice that reflects their diverse needs, we must continue to open up the higher education market and put in place a regulatory framework that reflects today’s challenges.

For many people, entry to higher education does not follow the traditional route of A-Levels followed by a full-time, residential, 3 year degree. Some choose to undertake a pathway that might include a foundation degree, Higher National Diploma, Higher National Certificate or Apprenticeship, while others enter higher education later in life after a period in the workforce.

This government values competition. We want a diverse, competitive system that can offer different types of higher education so that students can choose freely between a wide range of providers.

Competition not for its own sake, but because it empowers students and creates a strong incentive for providers to innovate and improve the quality of the education they are offering. That’s why, back in July, we published our Productivity Plan, ‘Fixing the Foundations’.

It set out how we’re going to boost productivity in this country. Among other goals, it promised to remove barriers to new entrants and to establish a risk-based framework for higher education, reducing burdens on some so we can focus oversight where it is needed.

The green paper will cast a critical eye over the processes for awarding access to student support funding, Degree Awarding Powers and University Title.

We have already made a start by providing a new route for trusted new and smaller providers to grow their student numbers. We are also beginning to link student number controls to the quality of the provider, through a “performance pool” which will operate for 2016 to 2017.

But the green paper will consult on options to go further. Success in higher education should be based on merit, not on incumbency. I want to fulfil our aim of a level playing field for all providers of higher education.

Many of you validate degree courses at alternative providers. Many choose not to do so. I know some validation relationships work well, but the requirement for new providers to seek out a suitable validating body from amongst the pool of incumbents is quite frankly anti-competitive. It’s akin to Byron Burger having to ask permission of McDonald’s to open up a new restaurant.

It stifles competition, innovation and student choice, which is why we will consult on alternative options for new providers if they do not want to go down the current validation route.

Towards a single gateway for degree awarding powers

The ultimate goal for many new providers is to secure their own Degree Awarding Powers and University Title.

This now takes many years, even for the best, most highly rated new providers. As part of the green paper, we will ask how we can speed up the process for those that offer the best quality education.

In the meantime, we will continue to support new entrants. Having taken action to improve the process, I can announce that we will shortly be lifting the moratorium that has been in place for applications for new Degree Awarding Powers and for University Title. Once again, we are opening the doors to new entrants and challenger institutions, all in the interest of increasing the choices available to students.

Providers entering and leaving the market is a sign of healthy competition, and it is something of which we should expect to see more. But we need to be prepared for the fact that some providers may exit the market. Our higher education sector should only have room for high quality providers. We will therefore be consulting on measures to require all providers to have protection measures in place so that students who benefit from greater choice and diversity do not lose out in the event of provider failure.

There will be some who are resistant to this change. Those who want to put up the barriers and bar the windows. But I want our higher education sector to remain the envy of the world. Allowing new providers to enrich the sector is part of that.

A transformed regulatory landscape

So the reforms we will set out in the green paper will improve teaching quality, empower students, open up the higher education market and drive value for money. To deliver our ambitions, we also plan to reform the higher education and research system architecture.

We are a deregulatory government, and much of the higher education system is ripe for simplification. When I arrived in BIS , my day one pack included a diagram of the higher education landscape. It was a stunning piece of PowerPoint – and must have been produced by a skilled hand. But the complexity – and associated cost both for the sector and directly for government – drove home the need for simplification.

The market has evolved far more quickly than the regulatory environment, and that is something we need to address. Our regulatory regime is still based upon a system where government directly funds institutions rather than reflecting the fact that students are the purchasers, and needful of all the protections that consumers of complex high value products receive in other regulated markets. We fund higher education in a very different way now to the block grants of the past. Students are the primary source of income for undergraduate study, but their interests are insufficiently represented in our structures and systems.

There are also parallel regulatory regimes for different types of higher education providers. I want to be in a position where all higher education providers operate on a level playing field. That was part of the vision in 2011 and it remains our goal.

So we need a simpler, less bureaucratic and less expensive system of regulation. A system that explicitly champions the student, employer and taxpayer interest in ensuring value for their investment in education and requires transparency from providers so that they can be held accountable for it. One that protects institutional autonomy and academic freedom and maintains the highest quality of higher education, safeguarding the strong international reputation of English universities.

Our thinking will also of course take account of the emerging recommendations from Sir Paul Nurse’s review of the research system architecture. I am committed to the maintenance of dual funding support, to the Haldane principle and to scientific excellence, but do see scope for a simpler system of delivering vital research funding to universities and opportunities to increase its strategic impact. It is also clear to me that there are many in the sector demanding a process for assessing the quality of scholarly output that is less bureaucratic and burdensome to academics and takes up less of the time that they could be spending more fruitfully on research and also, of course, on teaching.

Conclusion

So as we celebrate record student numbers, we need to recognise that there is still more to be done to reshape the higher education landscape around students themselves:

more to be done to drive up the quality of teaching and ensure all students can aspire to a fulfilling graduate career
more to be done to widen participation so that everyone has the opportunity to get ahead
more to be done to reduce the regulatory burden and create a level playing field for new competitors
more to be done to increase the efficiency and strategic impact of our research

With these changes higher education fulfils its full potential: not just as an engine of economic growth and productivity, but also, now that student number controls have been lifted, as the most powerful driver of social mobility we have.

News story: Major maritime report launched as London International Shipping Week gets underway

Mon, 07 Sep 2015 10:41:00 +0000

A major report examining how to maximise Britain’s potential as a maritime nation is published today, (7 September 2015), marking the first day of London International Shipping Week 2015.

The study led by Lord Mountevans, Chairman of Maritime UK, examined how Britain can build on the success of an industry that contributes at least £11 billion to the UK economy annually and supports more than 113,000 jobs and 6,600 businesses.

Recommendations in the study include:

the establishment of a ministerial working group in government to drive forward action on maritime issues, set clear targets and monitor progress
creating a new standalone unit within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to focus on attracting more ships to be British registered and fly the Red Ensign
government and industry to develop a joint strategy to identify skills gaps and increase apprenticeships i‎n the UK maritime sector and increase apprenticeships
the creation of a single industry body to promote the UK maritime sector to international markets

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said:

London International Shipping Week is an opportunity to remind the world of the benefits Britain offers, whether it’s our world-leading ports, maritime business services or skilled workforce. We are determined to grow our share of the global maritime sector, helping talented people find careers in its industries and attracting companies to do business in the UK.

Our maritime history is something Britain can be proud of, but the sector is taking us into the future. I want Britain to feel the benefit of its international reputation by driving economic growth and increasing jobs. We have already seen millions invested in the UK, including at London Gateway and Liverpool - demonstrating the central place Britain already holds in the industry.

I thank the chair who has produced an important piece of work and look forward to working with industry to ensure we do all we can to keep Britain a great maritime nation.

Chair of the Maritime Growth Study Lord Mountevans said:

I am a passionate believer in the importance of the maritime sector to our island trading nation, and very aware of the reliance of the rest of the world on our diverse maritime cluster.

This report is the culmination of months of work involving widespread engagement and detailed research. I am very grateful to all those who have engaged in the study.

The result is a ‘call to arms’ to industry and government to actively support and raise the profile of a vital sector that contributes significantly to the economy and which the nation relies on to meet its daily needs.

The report launches London International Shipping Week 2015, which runs from 7 to 11 September. The shipping world will be visiting the capital for the week with the top 200 maritime global business leaders and international decision makers in attendance to network and plan business with the UK.

Maritime and Shipping: the UK’s world-class ambition

DfT , Treasury, BIS , MoD and Wales Office are all promoting the UK’s maritime sector which offers world class education and training, a competitive and stable tax regime and a trusted and respected flag.

Delivering a world-class maritime workforce

London International Shipping Week will showcase the success story of British maritime, more than 503.2 million tonnes of freight were handled by UK ports in 2014. Ministers have seen first hand how private investment in UK ports are driving development and creating jobs. Projects underway include the £300 million Liverpool2 container terminal at the Port of Liverpool which will have new berths, quays and cranes able to serve the world’s largest container vessels. London Gateway Port has received £1.5 billion investment for its huge port and logistics facilities which will directly create 12,000 full time jobs.

Investing in world-class maritime infrastructure

Highlights of the London International Shipping Week’s events include Shipping Minister Robert Goodwill opening the London Stock Exchange and No 10 Downing Street hosting a ministerial roundtable to launch the Maritime Growth Study. Later in the week, a welcome reception will be held at Lancaster House with the Transport Secretary.

One-stop-shop for world-class maritime business services

The London International Shipping Week provides further details and a full list of the week’s events.

Maritime media enquiries

Press enquiries 020 7944 3118

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Press release: Measures to ensure people receive fair pay announced

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

A package of measures to ensure hardworking people receive the pay they are entitled to is being announced today (1 September 2015).

The measures include:

doubling the penalties for non-payment of the National Minimum Wage and the new National Living Wage
increasing the enforcement budget
setting up a new team in HMRC to take forward criminal prosecutions for those who deliberately do not comply
ensuring that anyone found guilty will be considered for disqualification from being a company director for up to 15 years

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

There is no excuse for employers flouting minimum wage rules and these announcements will ensure those who do try and cheat staff out of pay will feel the full force of the law.

This one nation government is committed to making work pay and making sure hardworking people get the salary they are entitled to.

A new team of compliance officers in HMRC will investigate the most serious cases of employers not paying the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage when it is introduced in April 2016.

The team will have the power to use all available sanctions, including penalties, prosecutions and naming and shaming the most exploitative employers.

The enforcement budget for the National Minimum Wage and Living Wage will also be increased in 2016 to 2017. Future budgets will be agreed as part of the Spending Review process.

Employers who fail to pay staff at least the minimum wage they are legally entitled to will have to pay double what they do now. This reform is intended to increase compliance and make sure those who break the law face tough consequences.

The calculation of penalties on those who do not comply will rise from 100% of arrears to 200%. This will be halved if employers pay within 14 days. The overall maximum penalty of £20,000 per worker remains unchanged.

A new Director of Labour Market Enforcement and Exploitation will be created to oversee enforcement of the National Minimum Wage, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (a non-departmental public body of the Home Office). The Director will set priorities for enforcement based on a single view of the intelligence about exploitation and non-compliance.

A consultation will be launched in the Autumn on the introduction of a new offence of aggravated breach of labour market legislation. The consultation will also propose giving the Gangmasters Licensing Authority additional investigatory powers and a wider remit to tackle serious labour exploitation more effectively.

The government has also announced today it will improve the guidance and support made available to firms on compliance and will work with payroll providers to be sure payroll software contains checks that staff are being paid what they are entitled to.

Notes to editors

1. HMRC currently enforces the National Minimum Wage on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

2.It currently conducts a programme of targeted enforcement, proactively focusing on high-risk sectors. It is currently engaged in activity in the social care, hairdressing and retail sectors.

3.In 2013, the department introduced a policy of naming non-compliant employers. Since then, 285 employers, who have owed over £788,000 in arrears, have been charged over £325,000 in penalties. HMRC puts forward the most serious cases of non-compliance to the Crown Prosecution Service for prosecution.

4.In 2014 to 2015, HMRC investigated 2,204 cases; found arrears in 735 cases for 26,318 workers totalling over £3.29 million; charged over £934,000 in penalties.

5.The current National Minimum Wage rates are:

adult rate (21 years old and over) - £6.50 per hour
18 to 20-year olds - £5.13 per hour
16 to 17-year olds - £3.79 per hour
apprentice rate - £2.73 per hour

The apprentice rate applies to apprentices aged 16 to 18 years and those aged 19 years and over who are in their first year. All other apprentices are entitled to the National Minimum Wage rate for their age.

6.Businesses or employees that have any questions about the National Minimum Wage can view guidance at www.acas.org.uk/nmw and ask questions at www.acas.org.uk/helplineonline.

Press release: Minister unwraps new production line at chocolate factory

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 14:10:55 +0000

The Business Secretary Sajid Javid visited the home of Cadbury in Birmingham to open a new state-of-the-art production line at its chocolate factory today (21 August 2015).

The new facility has been installed as part of a £75 million investment in Bournville by Mondelēz International to make its Cadbury Roses and Heroes assortments and Cadbury Dairy Milk bars. Announced by the company last year, it secures the next generation of chocolate manufacturing at the site.

As the champion for the area inside government, the Business Secretary called on the Midlands to act as an engine for growth, discussing how the government can work with manufacturers to encourage greater inward investment and export more from the UK .

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

The Cadbury brand has its history in Birmingham and the new production lines will help to secure its future here too.

I want every part of the UK to grow and do well but for far too long a lot of it has just been about the South East. The Midlands already has so much going for it with great household names like Cadbury so it has the potential and the people.

Our long-term economic plan for the Midlands is to make it the engine for growth in the UK . We want to help businesses and support those who want to work hard and get on - adding £34 billion to the Midlands economy by 2030 and creating 300,000 extra jobs.

For Britain to prosper every part of the country needs to fulfil its potential.

Mary Barnard, President of Northern Europe at Mondelēz International, said:

We were delighted to welcome the Secretary of State to Bournville to officially open the first of our new state-of-the-art manufacturing lines. This marks an important milestone in our journey to secure the next generation of manufacturing at this iconic site.

Our £75 million investment into Bournville is not just about new machinery, it’s also about investing in the people who work here. We welcomed the opportunity for Mr Javid to visit our new training facility and meet with apprentices and operators to hear first-hand about the new skills, knowledge and qualifications they are gaining.

During his visit the Business Secretary got a taste for the business by touring the production line. He also visited a new training facility and met apprentices and staff.

Food and drink is the largest manufacturing sector in the UK . It has a turnover of £95.4 billion and employs about 400,000 people - more than the population of Leicester.

Notes to editors

In 24 hours at Bournville the factory makes around:

1.2 million Cadbury Creme Eggs
5.5 million blocks of chocolate
10 million assortment units (Cadbury Roses and Heroes)
more than 400 million Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons
over 1 million Wispa bars

Mondelēz employs more than 4,000 people in the UK across 9 sites, including 5 manufacturing sites, a Global Centre of Excellence for Chocolate Research and Development in Bournville, and Global Science Centre in Reading.

Open consultation: Apprenticeships levy: employer owned apprenticeships training

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 23:15:00 +0000

We’re inviting comments on our proposal to introduce an apprenticeship levy. The levy will enable employers to choose and pay for apprenticeship training.

We’re seeking your views on:

how to pay the levy
how the levy should work for employers who operate across the whole of the UK
how to make sure that employers paying the levy have the opportunity to get more out than they put in
how best to give employers control of apprenticeships

This consultation covers the implementation of the levy. More detail on the levy rate and scope will be provided later in the year.

We particularly welcome views from employers, business organisations, training organisations and anyone with a vested interest.

Consultation outcome: Protecting the term apprenticeship

Wed, 29 Jul 2015 10:00:00 +0000

Updated: Added government response and summary of responses.

We’re asking for further evidence on the problems identified around the misuse of the term ‘apprenticeship’. We invite responses to a number of potential actions government can take to address them, particularly the proposed legislation in the Enterprise Bill.

Speech: One Nation Science

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 11:33:56 +0000

It’s a pleasure to be here to see first-hand how universities and businesses across the region are coming together to power innovation and growth.

The Prime Minister and Chancellor have been clear that this is a ‘One Nation Government’, and today I want to talk about ‘One Nation Science’. That means 2 things:

upholding the very best in British science and research. We should be proud of our science base – it’s one of our country’s great success stories. With less than 1% of the world’s population, the UK produces 16% of top quality published research
it also means developing that excellence for the whole country, making sure all areas and all groups of people can reach their full potential

One Nation Science is bold and ambitious. And that’s why in our manifesto, we set a clear goal: for Britain to be the best place in Europe to innovate, patent new ideas and set up and expand a business. That mission extends to all parts of the UK.

I am delighted to be at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre ( AMRC ) to see for myself the strong base on which we want to build. Yorkshire has a reputation for the practical and you should be proud of the practical impact of the work you do.

When our Army needed a tougher suspension system for its Warrior vehicles, Sheffield’s Tinsley Bridge answered the call. They developed the ‘Extralite’ torsion bar in just 5 months, with a Smart award from Innovate UK. This new system was stronger and lifted vehicles higher off the ground, saving lives by increasing troop protection against IEDs and mines.

There are many more examples. So it’s no surprise that Innovate UK has invested over £61 million in Yorkshire since 2010, including last year over £12 million to projects in the Sheffield City Region. I’m pleased to be here in the University of Sheffield, home to 2 nodes of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, in Advanced Machining and Materials and in Nuclear, with well over 100 industrial partners.

Productivity and investment in science

This city is a great place to talk about the role of science and innovation in boosting our country’s productivity.

Public investment in science delivers strong returns to the economy of at least 20% per annum, and leverages in private investment. We are today publishing research that shows that every pound of UK public funding for research generates between £1.13 and £1.60 of private investment and we know that private investment generates further returns to the UK economy of up to 50%.

This is why UK taxpayers invest £10 billion a year in research and innovation.

We protected the science budget in cash terms through the last Parliament.

And this is why we will now invest new capital on a record scale – £6.9 billion in new equipment, new laboratories and new research institutes across the UK. This new science capital also includes £2.9 billion for a Grand Challenges Fund, which will allow us to invest in major facilities of national and international significance, such as our £235 million investment in the Sir Henry Royce Institute for materials research and innovation, based in Manchester but with a hub in Sheffield.

Touring the UK

Since starting as Science Minister a few weeks ago, I have been travelling the country to see how this record capital investment is being put to good use.

At the Met Office in Exeter, I saw how our £97 million investment in a new supercomputer will cement the UK as the most accurate national weather forecaster in the world. Today a 4 day weather forecast is as accurate as a 1 day forecast 30 years ago, with implications for industries such as aviation, shipping and agriculture. This computer will be 13 times more powerful than the current system, able to perform more than 16,000 trillion calculations per second.

At the Diamond Light Source in Harwell, which I visited last week, I saw how our investment is enabling scientists to probe deep into the basic structure of matter, allowing over 7000 researchers to develop new products from medicines to biofuels.

And last month, in launching a £113 million ‘big data’ investment partnership with IBM at the Hartree Centre in Daresbury, I saw how we are managing to ‘crowd in’ private investment. Expanding the Hartree Centre substantially, both at Daresbury and Harwell, will encourage ‘big data’ companies to co-locate, as IBM has done with a package worth up to £200 million.

IBM is far from alone. Over the past year we have seen an 11% increase in inward investment projects with an R&D element. Such collaborations are often a precursor to major foreign direct investment, paving the way for long-term relationships.

Alongside this great science at home, British scientists are leaders in their fields abroad, winning an outsized share of European grants. I’m pleased today to announce that the UK is joining the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. This will reinforce the contribution that British researchers make to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Innovation

So as we look to make Britain best place in Europe to innovate, we start from a position of strength. But we need to do more, not just to commercialise past research, but to meet future challenges too.

That is why Ann Dowling’s recent Review of Business-University Research Collaboration is important. We will respond to her recommendations by the Spending Review, including how to take forward the central recommendation of simplifying support for business.

And we mean business on this. Our universities are successfully engaging with industry and the returns from collaborations are now greater than ever before. HEFCE ’s latest report on business-university interaction – published today, shows the value of these partnerships has reached record levels. Our Productivity Plan set out our ambition for universities to continue to increase their collaborations to £5 billion per annum by 2025.

Our innovation agency, Innovate UK, is developing a new strategic plan that will help achieve this vision. As part of this plan Innovate UK will set out how it will build on excellence throughout the UK, working with others to identify where it can invest locally in areas of strength to help support the development of clusters.

We know that the only way to secure a truly national recovery is through a fundamental rebalancing of the British economy. This is why we have committed to 28 City Deals, signed a historic Devolution Agreement with Greater Manchester and are working towards further devolution for Sheffield City Region and elsewhere.

To ensure that productivity grows nationally we need to empower cities like Sheffield to reach their full potential. Productivity here is currently less than half that in Oxford and London. Research and innovation have a critical role to play in plugging these productivity gaps around the country.

One Nation Science

At present, 46% of public investment in research goes to the golden triangle. This reflects the strength of internationally-renowned universities in London, Oxford and Cambridge. We must and we will continue to fund research on the basis of excellence and ensure we are competing with the very best in the world.

But we do have to ensure we recognise that other parts of the country have proven research excellence in their universities, and ensure we fund excellence wherever it is found in order to realise the productivity gains that we have seen in the Golden Triangle. To achieve this we need a new approach – one that promotes and protects our reputation for world-class science, and also drives growth and raises productivity for the whole of the UK.

Science and innovation ‘audits’

So the first part of One Nation science is to take a more thoughtful approach to place. I have asked officials to work with local areas to develop ‘audits’ mapping local research and innovation strengths and infrastructure. These deep dives will provide a new way to identify and build on areas of greatest potential in every region.

As preparation for this, we are today publishing Mapping Local Comparative Advantage in Innovation, bringing together for the first time a range of research and innovation indicators for each of the 39 Local Enterprise Partnership areas in England.

For the audits themselves, we want consortia of higher education and research institutions, local partners and business to come forward- and we will make resources available from government, Research Councils, HEFCE and Innovate UK to help analyse and interpret the rich data sources to understand the areas of greatest potential.

These audits will be open and transparent. They will help local areas to identify emerging scientific strengths. And they should help focus efforts to access £580 million of EU Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) available for R&D . Together with match funding the total pot exceeds £1 billion.

In government, they will give us the tools to recognise and reward excellent research proposals that reflect local strengths and leverage local funds. In our Productivity Plan, we set out how the Research Partnership Investment Fund will in future consider the potential for local economic growth and local collaboration, alongside the focus on excellence

I welcome that Paul Nurse is looking at this as part of his wider review and look forward to his report later this year.

Catapults across the country

The Productivity Plan also committed to look for opportunities to develop the UK’s network of Catapults and spread the benefits. Just this week, the Chancellor announced new locations that will benefit. The Precision Medicine Catapult headquarters will be located in Cambridge, with centres of excellence in the North of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and southern England - creating a Catapult presence in several parts of the country that have not yet benefitted from this network.

And building on the life sciences excellence identified in the north west with the Precision Medicine Catapult, we have also announced a new Medicines Technologies Catapult in Alderley Park in Cheshire. With the existing Cell Therapy Catapult, this will put the UK in a leading position to support all stages of the life sciences innovation cycle. Working with Innovate UK, I have agreed that this new approach of considering the location alongside technologies would continue for any future Catapults.

STEM skills and diversity

One Nation Science is about more than place and our economic geography. The second aspect I want to talk about is people. If UK research is to reach its full potential, we must also make best use of all the tremendous talent we have here in the UK.

The last government was determined to improve diversity in public appointments and this government will keep up that momentum. But in science and innovation, the focus cannot be limited to public appointments alone. We need to take a holistic approach, looking at the whole talent pipeline, from STEM teaching in schools through to research grants and the diversity of sector leadership.

Schools

For our schools, we have announced £67 million for the next 5 years to recruit and train an extra 2,500 maths and physics teachers and upskill 15,000 existing maths and physics teachers.

Our STEM Ambassadors programme is doing important work to inspire more young people into science, and especially girls. We must push for faster progress. Only one in ten Computing students is female. And only 19% of girls who achieved the top grade in GCSE physics go on to study physics at A-Level, compared to 49% of boys.

And last year we initiated the Your Life campaign which aims to increase participation in maths and science studies at age 16 and beyond, with an ambitious target to increase the number of students taking maths and physics at A level by 50% in 3 years.

Apprenticeships

I know that apprenticeships are a subject close to the hearts of many here today: you have a very strong apprenticeship programme here at the AMRC , with 600 young people taking advanced apprenticeships. I am looking forward to meeting some of your apprentices shortly.

And I am pleased to be able to announce today that the University of Sheffield is further expanding the AMRC ’s successful apprenticeship programme, to create pioneering degree-level apprenticeships, with the support of a £1.6 million grant from HEFCE . This will provide new work-based routes for young people to achieve professional Chartered Engineer status.

This exciting new programme will widen access to higher education and technical training. This is a core part of One Nation Science. I know from personal experience how a lack of ‘science capital’ in a family can pass on across the generations. No group should feel excluded; no group should be made to feel that science is “not for them”.

Universities/ STEM workforce

When we inspire people into science and engineering, we need to make sure that they have the opportunities to progress. That’s why an important strand of the Your Life campaign is the call to action under which over 200 organisations are taking steps to encourage the appointment and progression of people from a wide range of backgrounds: particularly women.

We support the Athena Swan charter, which recognises employers’ commitment to advancing the careers of women in higher education and research, and we have funded an extension of the charter to Research Institutes. And we have also set up the STEM Diversity Programme, led by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. As part of this, the Royal Academy of Engineering working with engineering employers to widen their approach to recruitment.

Grants

There is much more to do. Data shows that women are under-represented in grant applications when compared to the academic population for most research councils. I commend the work of Professor Jackie Hunter of RCUK , who has been challenging universities on their diversity performance.

I know partner organisations share my concerns and are already taking action. RCUK published a statement of expectations on equality and diversity in 2013 intended to drive more rapid cultural change in institutions receiving Research Council funding.

We now have 3 years of research council grant applications and peer review data that analyses success rates by diversity. I have asked them to give me an action plan to address this continuing under-representation by December.

Vice Chancellors

I am pleased to see a number of distinguished, experienced women taking the helm recently as university vice chancellors. These appointments mean that the number of women leading universities will increase by about 20% compared with last year, but still represent less than a quarter of university leaders. Universities themselves recognise the need to go further.

Public appointments

Research Council Boards will have moved from one in four female appointments in July 2014 to around 2 in 5 by September 2015, with 2 councils achieving 50:50 gender balance. But again more needs to be done to improve representation of ethnic minorities and the disabled.

Conclusion

As we head into the Spending Review, we know we couldn’t have a Chancellor more committed to research.

In delivering One Nation Science, we will seize the once in a generation opportunity we now have to find an extra gear for the British economy, and ensure higher living standards for generations to come.

I look forward to working with you all to ensure we rise to this challenge.

Speech: Fixing the foundations: boosting Britain’s productivity

Fri, 10 Jul 2015 10:04:00 +0000

Introduction: the progress we’ve made

Birmingham is an incredibly diverse city in so many ways, not least the huge range of businesses that call England’s second city their home. Whether it’s in automotive, the creative industries, or of course jewellery, there’s an incredible breadth of entrepreneurial talent in this city and this room today.

But for all the diversity you all have one thing in common. You all saw the scale of the challenge that British businesses faced in 2010.

The worst recession in almost a century. The biggest budget deficit since the Second World War. The world’s largest bank bailout. A nation saddled with debt and an economy struggling to grow.

Five years on, the picture is very different. Our long-term economic plan is working, and Britain is working. Or economy is growing faster than that of any other G7 nation, and we’ve gone from a record-breaking recession to record employment. Last year, Birmingham alone created more new jobs than the whole of France.

But we’re not about to stop now. I want to take British business to the next level. And the best way to do that is to boost our productivity.

Productivity: why it matters

Productivity is something we’ve been hearing a lot about recently, and that’s because it’s one of the few areas of the economy where Britain is struggling.

Britain is home to some of the world’s most innovative and dynamic businesses, staffed by incredibly talented, hardworking individuals. Yet our productivity – the rate of output per hour worked – is well below its potential. In stark terms, it now takes a worker in the UK 5 days to produce what his or her counterparts in Germany can deliver in 4.

The picture’s not entirely bleak. Standing here in Longbridge a decade ago you could have been forgiven for thinking that Britain’s car industry was in terminal decline. Yet today, the UK is home to the world’s most productive automotive sector. And if one sector can solve the productivity puzzle in such spectacular fashion, there’s no reason why others can’t too.

It’s crucial that they do, because productivity isn’t just some obscure measure, of interest only to economists. It matters to each and every one of us. If we could match USA for productivity, it would boost our GDP by 31% – that’s equivalent to £21,000 a year for every household in the UK.

And higher productivity means higher incomes. When productivity rises, standards of living rise too. So today I’m proud to publish ‘Fixing the foundations’. It’s our plan for productivity, and our blueprint for creating a more prosperous nation.

Let me talk about 3 elements that are particularly close to my heart.

Transport

The first is transport. The internet has revolutionised the way many of us work, but you just had to look at the disruption caused by this week’s strikes to see that reliable transport links are still a vital part of any serious, growing economy.

Yet for decades, successive governments have not invested enough in maintaining and developing the arteries of British business. Congestion on our roads is getting so bad that by 2040 we could lose more than 100 million working days to traffic jams. 100 million days! If we don’t fix this problem British business will, quite literally, get stuck in the slow lane of Europe.

So over the next 5 years we’re going to invest £100 billion in infrastructure. We’re going to create a new roads fund to ensure continued high and stable investment in the strategic road network for generations to come. We’re going to get the rail investment programme back onto a sustainable footing, and change the way we provide public money so that Network Rail focusses firmly on the needs of train operators and passengers.

And, unlike previous governments, we’re going to grasp the nettle of airport capacity in the south east, taking a decision by the end of this year.

Planning

Of course, we haven’t just lagged behind on transport infrastructure. The UK has long been incapable of building enough homes to keep up with growing demand. This doesn’t just frustrate the ambitious of hardworking people who want to own their own home – it also harms productivity and restricts flexibility in the labour market.

So we’re going to introduce a new zonal system, which will effectively give automatic planning permission on suitable brownfield sites like the one behind me. We’ll make sure the homes that are needed get built – if a council fails to produce a suitable local plan, we’ll have it done it for them. And we’ll be devolving major new planning powers to London and Greater Manchester.

Too many homeowners are frustrated by red tape that stops them extending their homes to accommodate growing families. It’s a particular problem in our crowded capital city. So today I can announce that the government will be working with the Mayor of London to make life easier for people who want a little extra space. We’re going to remove the need for Londoners to seek planning permission for upwards extensions up to the height of an adjoining building, provided your neighbours don’t object. It’s a simple step that, at a stroke, will take layers of bureaucracy and cost out of the planning system.

Education

But productivity isn’t just about buildings and roads and infrastructure. It’s also about people. About making sure British workers have the skills they need to compete. And right now, too many of young people are missing out. We’re one of the only advanced countries where the skills of our 16 to 24-year-olds are no better than those of our 55 to 64-year-olds. It’s simply not good enough, and it’s storing up problems for the future.

Part of the problem lies in our system of training. Enter the professional and technical education system today and you’ll be faced with a blizzard of complicated and overlapping qualifications, often with no obvious pathway to a decent job. So we’re going to simplify and streamline the system, replacing thousands qualifications with clear set of routes that allow for progression to high level skills.

And that high-level, sector-specific skills training will be provided, in part, by prestigious new institutes of technology. As is the case in some of the world’s most productive nations, these institutes will be sponsored by employers, registered with professional bodies, and aligned with apprenticeship standards.

The role of business

So our plan for productivity is clear. We’ll get Britain moving, we’ll get Britain building, and we’ll get Britain learning. We’ll deliver the infrastructure and skills this country needs to become the world’s richest major economy.

But there is one thing missing from the plan. You. Because the government cannot do this alone. The plan I’m launching today will create an open, competitive economy and deliver much-needed investment in skills and infrastructure. But only the private sector can produce sustainable growth, create long-term jobs and make the economy as productive as it can be.

Boosting productivity is the economic challenge of our age, and there’s a long way to go. But together we can get there.

On Wednesday the Chancellor talked about fixing the roof while the sun was shining. Today, the sun is shining once more. And, together, we’re fixing the foundations.

Thank you.

Speech: Teaching at the heart of the system

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 09:49:00 +0000

Thank you to Universities UK ( UUK ) for hosting us today.

In my first speech on universities a month ago, I addressed the subject of international education.

I am proud of the sector’s international standing and reputation around the world.

Today, I want to reflect further on what underpins this excellence, and what more we can do to enhance it.

At the root of that success is the autonomy and academic freedom that enables us to attract brilliant people to work in and run our universities and lead our sectoral bodies.

I’d like to congratulate Nicola Dandridge for her recent CBE and thank outgoing UUK President, Chris Snowden, for his excellent service.

I would also like to congratulate Dame Julia Goodfellow on taking over the UUK Presidency – the first woman to hold the post ever, I believe (in around 100 years of the existence of UUK and its predecessor body).

Success of the sector

The higher education sector can be proud of its success over the last 5 years and I want to pay tribute to my colleagues David Willetts and Greg Clark for their part in the reforms that have helped sustain the high esteem in which it is held around the world.

We have seen:

a transformed financial situation; as the OECD says, we are one of the only countries in the world to have found a way of sustainably funding higher education
we have seen record numbers of young people entering higher education, including record numbers from disadvantaged backgrounds
and we have seen record numbers of graduates in work; the recent Graduate Labour Market statistics showed the highest employment rate for working age graduates since 2007 (at 87.5%)
through all this, the UK has retained its place as a world leader in HE , with 4 universities in the global top 10, and as number one in the world for the impact of our research

Unfinished business

It’s a great success story, but there is unfinished business and, in the coming months, my focus will be on implementing 3 key manifesto pledges, so that we consolidate and build on these achievements:

firstly, lifting the cap on student numbers and widening participation, so that we remove barriers to ambition and meet the PM’s commitment to double the proportion of disadvantaged young people entering higher education by 2020 from 2009 levels
secondly, delivering a teaching excellence framework that creates incentives for universities to devote as much attention to the quality of teaching as fee-paying students and prospective employers have a right to expect
thirdly, driving value for money both for students investing in their education, and taxpayers underwriting the system, so that we ensure the continuing success and stability of these reforms

Taking these points in reverse order.

Meeting value for money expectations

Around now, the first cohort of students to enter under the 2012 reforms is preparing to enter the labour market.

They have been working hard for their final exams and made a significant investment in higher education.

They are looking critically at what they get for that investment, and so must we, as a government, on behalf of taxpayers.

I am concerned that recent surveys – the HEPI-HEA Student Academic Experience Survey, as well as a BBC/ComRes poll – showed that only around half of students felt their course had provided good value for money.

All of us need to reflect on this and on what we can do to address such unease.

More informed choices

Thanks to the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act passed in March, we can now start to assess the employment and earnings returns to education by matching Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ( BIS ) and Department for Education ( DfE ) education data with HMRC employment and income data and Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) benefits data.

Information of this sort will be incredibly useful for young people choosing courses or jobs that are most suitable for them. It will also enable education providers to assess their effectiveness in delivering positive labour market outcomes for their students.

I am also pleased to see the piloting of new National Student Survey questions that measure the engagement of students with their course, staff and fellow students.

This was shown in the US to be a good proxy for the value add of a university in terms of ‘learning gain’ - the improvement in knowledge, skills and work-readiness that students demonstrate over time.

While independent learning is vital, universities must get used to providing clearer information about how many hours students will spend in lectures, seminars and tutorials, and who will deliver the teaching.

Indeed the Competition and Markets Authority have advised higher education providers that information should be available to prospective students to meet the requirements of consumer law.

I know this is already on the sector’s agenda. I will continue to push for more data to be made available, including for alternative providers.

A Higher Education Policy Institute ( Hepi ) survey suggests as many as three-quarters of undergraduates want more information about where their fees go – and I sympathise with that.

Such transparency looks to me like an essential way of addressing value for money concerns.

More competition

More competition will also be central to our efforts to drive up standards. In the last 3 years, we have seen more universities created than at any time since the 1992 expansion.

We are committed to promoting high quality market entry, whilst at the same time ensuring a regulatory regime which guards against poor quality provision.

More competition and more informed choice will help drive up value for money for both students and taxpayers.

Graduate premium

The graduate earnings premium is an important measure of the value universities add and of the greater productivity of those with skills acquired in higher education.

Of course, many graduates will consciously choose to go into occupations that do not maximise their incomes – we must remember that education is about more than just wage returns.

Indeed, that is the reason we have a progressive repayment system for student loans.

But it is also important to remember that higher lifetime graduate earnings provide benefits to society – including higher tax revenues and faster and fuller repayment of student loans.

Evidence of a decline in the graduate earnings premium is therefore a concern as we look to drive up productivity in the economy, secure our public finances and ensure our higher education system continues to be funded in a sustainable way.

Between 2006 and 2015, the graduate earnings premium decreased from around 55% higher to around 45% higher than the earnings of non-graduates, with graduates now earning on average £31k and non-graduates £22,000.

There is still a considerable benefit – but we cannot be complacent and must analyse why the premium employers pay for graduates is falling at a time when graduate-level skills are in growing demand.

Course choice and curriculum design

An important part of the answer is that we are not yet rising to the challenge of ensuring that enough young people are choosing courses where there are skills shortages and strong employer demand – notably in science, technology, engineering and mathematics ( STEM ).

Nor are we doing enough to ensure that all students emerge from university prepared for work.

Last year’s CBI /Pearson Education and Skills survey suggested that 47% of employers felt universities should do more to help students become job-ready.

Government, business and the university sector need to come together to address this mismatch between supply and demand in the graduate labour market.

Businesses should not just be seen as customers of universities, recruiting the graduates they educate or buying research expertise, but as active partners.

Universities need to develop business-outreach into a core function that has influence over curriculum design.

Closer partnership between universities and business will help us tackle the misguided view that ‘more means worse’ and ensure that the investment both students and taxpayers make in higher education provides visible returns.

Teaching Excellence Framework ( TEF )

Above all, to meet students’ high expectations of their university years and to deliver the skills our economy needs, we need a renewed focus on teaching.

This is vital unfinished business from the reforms of the last Parliament.

As David Willetts himself acknowledged in a recent interview with the Times Higher Education; “teaching has been by far the weakest aspect of English higher education”.

This must change.

There must be recognition of excellent teaching – and clear incentives to make ‘good’ teaching even better.

Some rebalancing of the pull between teaching and research is undoubtedly required.

It is striking that while we have a set of measures to reward high quality research, backed by substantial funding (the Research Excellence Framework), there is nothing equivalent to drive up standards in teaching.

That is why my priority as Universities Minister will be to make sure students get the teaching they deserve and employers get graduates with the skills they need by introducing the Teaching Excellence Framework we promised in our manifesto.

Aims for the TEF

My aims for the TEF are:

to ensure all students receive an excellent teaching experience that encourages original thinking, drives up engagement and prepares them for the world of work
to build a culture where teaching has equal status with research, with great teachers enjoying the same professional recognition and opportunities for career and pay progression as great researchers
to stimulate a diverse HE market and provide students with the information they need to judge teaching quality – in the same way they can already compare a faculty’s research rating
to recognise those institutions that do the most to welcome students from a range of backgrounds and support their retention and progression to further study or a graduate job

I expect the TEF to include a clear set of outcome-focused criteria and metrics. This should be underpinned by an external assessment process undertaken by an independent quality body from within the existing landscape.

Believe me, I have no intention of replicating the individual and institutional burdens of the REF . I am clear that any external review must be proportionate and light touch, not big, bossy and bureaucratic.

I want to work with you all, as well as with the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Quality Assurance Agency, to design a framework that has widespread support and works for the sector, as well as students and employers and taxpayers.

This is not happening in isolation. It goes with the grain of our reforms since 2010 and aims to accelerate positive changes already underway in the sector.

We will be consulting widely and I am not pre-empting what any of the incentives might look like. I am keen to hear your views ahead of a green paper, which the Department of Business, Innovation and SkiIls plans to publish in the autumn.

Maintaining the value of our degrees

One of the things I want to focus on in the green paper is how the TEF can help improve the information that matters most for graduates and employers: the degree classification.

Here we face a significant challenge.

The UK’s standard model of classes of honours is on its own no longer capable of providing the recognition hardworking students deserve and the information employers require.

Students across the country have just finished their exams and are looking for good graduate jobs. Last week’s High Fliers survey reminded us that the class of 2015 is more career-oriented than ever before.

They rightly want hard work at university to be recognised and for their degree to be a currency that carries prestige and holds its value. At the same time, businesses need a degree classification system that will help them identify the best applicants for their firms.

I know the sector is starting to tackle this need for richer information through the Higher Education Achievement Report and this is a valuable development, but this work needs greater urgency.

Let me explain why:

There has been a significant increase in the proportion of people receiving firsts and 2:1 degrees.

To the extent this expansion in the number of firsts and 2:1s is to do with rising levels of attainment and hard work, I applaud it.

But I suspect I am not alone in worrying that less benign forces are at work with the potential to damage the UK higher education brand.

On the face of it, the facts are certainly startling.

There has been a 300% increase in the percentage of firsts since the 1990s.

Over 70% of graduates now get a First or 2:1 – up by 7 percentage points in the past 5 years. And compared to just 47% in the mid-1990s.

In 2013 to 14, over 50% of students were awarded an upper second, suggesting that this grade band not only disguises considerable variation in attainment, but also permits some to coast.

The Higher Education Academy found that nearly half of institutions had changed their degree algorithms to; “ensure that their students were not disadvantaged compared to those in other institutions”.

The Teaching Excellence Framework we will introduce will include incentives for the sector to tackle degree inflation and ensure that hard-won qualifications hold their value.

I want the green paper to look at the role that external examiners play in underpinning standards and ensuring our grading system provides a clearer, more comparable picture of student attainment.

Stronger student engagement

I also want to make sure that the Teaching Excellence Framework encourages universities to adopt a grading system that does more to motivate and engage students throughout their course.

The familiar pattern of a First, 2:1 and 2:2, Third is widely recognised.

But providing extra granularity through a grade point average ( GPA ) – a 13 point scale developed by the sector – will encourage consistent effort, make it less easy to coast within the 2:1 band and give employers more information about candidates within that classification.

It is vital that we continue to drive up student engagement.

Students are working harder than before and that is a welcome trend, which we want to support through the Teaching Excellence Framework.

But many full time students are still not being sufficiently stretched.

In the most recent Student Academic Experience Survey, the total weekly workload reported by students averages 30.5 hours, including 14 hours of independent study, and varies greatly by subject.

The reported weekly workload on courses such as Mass Communications and Documentation is as little as 22 hours.

Students are telling us in surveys that they know they would do better by investing more time in their studies.

As a more finely-calibrated long-run batting average, GPA should drive greater student engagement than our present system, which, notwithstanding more summative coursework, in many ways can still look like a snapshot performance measure.

I know Sir Robert Burgess, chair of the Grade Point Average Advisory Group, has predicted all UK universities will adopt the model by the end of the decade.

I support this goal and want the green paper to examine how the new Teaching Excellence Framework can encourage universities to adopt dual running of the GPA and honours degree system, as recommended in the recent Higher Education Academy report.

Widening participation

My focus has of course been on students and the job market.

But this does not mean we overlook the value of learning for its own sake, or the role of higher education in social mobility.

The 2012 reforms mean that anyone with the ability can now make going to university their goal, a fact underscored by our decision to lift the cap on student numbers altogether from this academic year.

Anyone with potential to benefit from university should not be prevented from going because of their background or ability to pay.

But of course there is still more to do.

The Prime Minister has set an ambitious goal to double the proportion of those from disadvantaged backgrounds progressing into higher education by 2020 (compared with 2009).

I will challenge you to do all you can to reach this target.

That’s why I am delighted that Professor Les Ebdon has agreed to extend his term as director of the Office of Fair Access to help us fulfil a commitment that is central to this One Nation Government’s aim to promote social mobility in this country.

In particular, I want to see more progress being made in the most selective institutions.

Data from UCAS shows the clear progress that the sector has made, and I applaud that.

I want to see more outreach and more innovation in terms of course length and design. Degree Apprenticeships and 2-year courses in particular offer a more accessible route to a higher education and a faster path to productive employment.

We also need to match our efforts on driving up fair access by also ensuring those young people succeed in getting a good qualification and have an opportunity to find a fulfilling career.

I know that this ‘whole student lifecycle’ approach is one that you are taking seriously – and it is embedded in the National Strategy for Access and Student Success.

I expect our new Teaching Excellence Framework to include incentives that reward institutions who do best at retention and progression of disadvantaged students through their college years.

Conclusion

I recognise that this is a challenging agenda and that you are already focused on many of these issues.

We will be working with closely with universities and with the grain of reforms that have put power and choice in the hands of students.

Those institutions that can demonstrate that they excel in teaching and in supporting all students – including those from disadvantaged backgrounds – through university into graduate jobs will reap rewards.

If we can get this right –

on driving value for money for students and taxpayers
on creating incentives to encourage excellent teaching
and on widening participation

– then I’m confident we can together make a world-leading higher education sector greater still.

Speech: A European Union that works for British business

Mon, 29 Jun 2015 19:35:00 +0000

Thank you, John for inviting me, and thank you for accommodating my change in schedule.

Congratulations to both Paul Drechsler for his appointment as President, and to Carolyn Fairbairn for her appointment as Director General.

I’m sure you’re going to enjoy your terms, and I’m certainly looking forward to working with you both.

Travelling here tonight I realised that I’m the first Conservative Business Secretary to address a CBI get-together since Ian Lang.

It’s been far too long, but it’s certainly good to be back.

A few things have changed since Ian’s day.

I’m fairly sure that he would never have attended a CBI dinner immediately after getting back from Glastonbury!

It seems you can take the minister out of culture, but you can’t take culture out of the minister…

The audience here tonight couldn’t be more different from the crowd at Worthy Farm.

One is all well-off, middle-aged businessmen enjoying expensive food and discussing their stock portfolios.

And the other is CBI members and their guests!

Of course, the cultural habits of the Business Secretary are not the only thing to have changed of late.

Just look at the economy.

In 2010, we faced a stark challenge – to pull Britain back from the brink.

The country was sinking under a host of unwanted records:

…the worst recession in almost a century…

… the biggest budget deficit since the Second World War…

…the world’s largest bank bailout.

Five years on, the picture is very different.

We’ve gone from a record-breaking recession to record-breaking employment.

The deficit, as a proportion of GDP, has been cut in half.

Our economy is growing faster than anywhere else in the G7.

And the UK has created more jobs in the last 5 years than the rest of the EU put together.

Now, it’s traditional for politicians to stand up at events and claim all the credit.

To boast about the economic miracle performed by the government.

And it’s true that we’ve done a lot to help.

Cutting £10 billion of regulation…

… lowering taxes…

…slashing the deficit.

But the real hero is British business.

And when I say ‘British business’ I’m not just talking about a handful of senior executives.

I mean everyone who has played a role in turning the economy around.

Employers and employees…

…huge corporations and sole traders…

…retailers and manufacturers and everything in between.

It was business that did the hard work…

…business that delivered for Britain…

…business that changed millions of lives for the better in every corner of the country.

So thanks to people like you, in 2015 the task before us is very different.

Our challenge now is to secure the progress we’ve made.

To build on it, to make Britain a more productive nation and the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

That’s why I’m going to pass the Enterprise Bill, cutting red tape freeing businesses.

That’s why we’re creating 3 million new apprenticeships, giving British workers the skills they need to compete in a global market.

That’s why we’re delivering reliable and affordable energy for businesses and homes…

…freezing National Insurance contributions for employers and employees…

… and providing free child care for millions of working parents.

And that’s why we’re negotiating a better deal for Britain in Europe.

I know this is something the CBI desperately wants to see.

You have never been shy about highlighting the ways in which the EU can hamper and undermine British business.

Here’s 3 quotes:

“The likely effect of many of Brussels’ current proposals will be to damage the UK’s prospects for growth.”

That was John, speaking in 2011.

“We don’t want a situation where smaller firms are saddled with poorly thought-out EU regulations which impede their ability to grow.”

So said Katja in 2013.

“The European Parliament’s decision … is bad for business … it will make it harder for firms to grow and export across Europe.”

That was Sean McGuire, your man in Brussels, in a statement made 4 years ago.

These are all valid complaints, all concerns I share.

They’re exactly the kind of points the CBI should be making to defend the interests of its members.

And they’re exactly the kind of issues this government is tackling during the current renegotiation.

So imagine my surprise last month, when I attended an event much like this one and heard that the CBI thinks the UK should remain in the European Union no matter what.

That the people of Britain should vote to stay in regardless of whether or not the Prime Minister wins the concessions that British business so badly needs.

That none of the concerns the CBI has raised over the years are actually that significant.

Of course you’re entirely free to come to that conclusion.

But does it really make sense to say, so early in the process:

… ‘the rules of this club need to change…

… but don’t worry, we’ll always be members no matter what happens?’

You’re some of Britain’s most respected, most successful business leaders.

You know how negotiation works.

You wouldn’t dream of sitting down at the start of a merger or acquisition and…

…like a poker player showing his hand to the table…

… announcing exactly what terms you were prepared to accept.

It doesn’t work in the boardroom and it won’t work in Brussels.

And that’s not just my view.

The Guardian is hardly known for its pro-business, Eurosceptic editorial line.

But even its financial editor warned that the CBI ’s position “will be exploited by any half-alert EU politician or Brussels bureaucrat.”

Now it would be easy to argue that a great many EU politicians and Brussels bureaucrats are not even half alert!

But the handful that are will have seized upon the CBI ’s stance and will use it to fight the Prime Minister all the way as he seeks lasting reform.

And make no mistake, the reforms we seek are the reforms your members need.

An expanding market that liberalises new sectors will benefit British entrepreneurs.

An EU open to trade, concluding ambitious deals with America, China and Japan will benefit all British businesses and consumers.

And, as the Prime Minister has said before, this renegotiation will not just benefit Britain.

It will benefit the whole of the EU too.

So we agree, we want to see reform.

We will make the case to European governments.

But we hope you will make the case to European businesses, striking alliances for reform, calling on other governments to back change.

Look at the stance taken by the Institute of Directors and the British Chambers of Commerce.

Like the CBI , the IoD and BCC are great cheerleaders for British business.

Like the CBI , they want the renegotiation process to deliver genuine reform.

But unlike the CBI , they’re waiting until that process is complete before recommending how to vote in the referendum.

When the IoD polled its members, 60% said that staying in the EU will only benefit their businesses IF there are major reforms to employment and company law.

And as the BCC ’s John Longworth said last week, “The business community cannot make a decision on the EU until it knows … what will be negotiated”.

For decades the CBI has been a champion of British business, and any friend of British business is a friend of mine.

But best friends are not afraid to be straight with each other.

So I’d urge everyone at the CBI , including your new President and new Director General, to think very carefully about what you want to achieve in the months ahead.

The Prime Minister’s goal is Britain in a reformed EU with the issues British people want resolved, fixed for good.

And Brussels is sitting up and paying attention.

We have a unique opportunity to build a better European Union.

A European Union that genuinely delivers for British business and for British workers.

That allows your companies to trade and grow and create jobs freely…

…breaking down the bureaucratic barriers that the CBI has fought so hard against for so long.

This opportunity has only come about thanks to the deadline of the in/out referendum.

And it is only the possibility of a British exit that will allow us to deliver the change we need.

So ask yourselves, do you want to be part of this process?

Do you want to seize this chance to fix what doesn’t work so we can continue to enjoy what does?

Do you want to take real action to tackle the problems you have done so much to highlight?

The concessions the Prime Minister is seeking will not easily be won.

No politicians, no bureaucracy, ever gave up power without a fight, and the European Union is no different.

Those of us who want change must work together.

We must speak with one voice.

And we must be unafraid to say that we could walk away if Brussels refuses to compromise.

The reform your members have long demanded is almost within our grasp.

With the CBI ’s support, I know we can reach out and bring it home for the people of Britain.

Thank you.

Speech: Digital priorities for this Parliament

Mon, 29 Jun 2015 11:12:47 +0000

I’m really pleased to be here today and to be able to speak alongside Neelie Kroes and Martha Lane Fox. Thank you for inviting me.

The very fact that you are all here today shows that you already get the importance of digital, so I’m not going to reel off the stats about the size and impact of digital on the UK economy. I’m just going to quote the slogan of that well-known chocolate bar and to note that digital is having an increasingly significant impact on the way we work, rest and play.

In line with the Chancellor’s recent Mansion House speech, it is worth reflecting on digital technology as an important driver of productivity. It can reduce costs, and create efficiencies. But it can also radically change the way we do things and create new opportunities – from driverless cars, to block chain technology, to the exciting possibilities of quantum computing. Indeed I was intrigued to discover that according to the Chief Executive of Royal Bank of Scotland ( RBS ), their busiest branch is not on some high street somewhere but is now their mobile app on the 7:15 train to Paddington.

I want to use this speech today to set out my priorities for digital and identify where I think the key opportunities are for the UK over the coming years.

One of the first things the Prime Minister David Cameron announced after the election was his decision to put all of the Digital Economy Unit into the Department for Culture, Media and Sport ( DCMS ). This means that I, as a joint DCMS /Business, Innovation and Skills ( BIS ) Minister, and my team of officials now have a clear lead across the digital policy agenda. I believe this will bring real coherence and more clout to this agenda.

Europe

But it is not just greater coordination at a national level that is required to reap the benefits of the digital economy. A European digital single market, in conjunction with effective free trade agreements, will ensure that the UK and Europe can reap the benefits in the years ahead as we export to the world the fantastic technology developed across this continent.

The government wants to make it easier for consumers to shop online, across borders by breaking down barriers. We also want to remove unnecessary regulation burdens which prevent incumbent businesses as well as start-ups from transacting throughout the European Union ( EU ).

To make the digital single market a success, we need UK businesses to help us have a strong and compelling voice in Brussels negotiations. We need you to tell us know what you think is important.

Digital infrastructure

Another key element of a thriving digital economy is the digital broadband and mobile services. These services are vital for the economy and social cohesion, and we need a digital communications infrastructure that meets the needs of users, including ubiquitous availability, reliability, speed, affordability and resilience.

We have made good progress on improving fixed broadband and mobile infrastructure. Superfast broadband is currently available to over 80% of homes and businesses in the UK and we will have achieved 95% by 2017. We have also issued over 25,000 broadband vouchers to SMEs in cities across the UK, so they can reap the benefits of connection to better quality, high speed broadband

Every one of us here today will have experienced the frustration of being somewhere and not having a mobile signal. That’s why we are holding mobile operators to their legally-binding commitment to ensure that 90 per cent of the UK landmass will have voice and SMS coverage by 2017 from each operator. It is why we included a licence obligation in the 4G auction, that was won by Telefonica, to require indoor 4G coverage to 98% of UK premises by 2017. And it is why we are also continuing to invest in mobile infrastructure to help deliver coverage for voice calls and text messages for the final 0.3 to 0.4% of premises that do not currently have it.

New technologies

Government is also supporting how new technologies like data analytics are changing our everyday lives – from how the government delivers its services to how companies engage with their customers. At a time when British businesses earn one in every 5 pounds from the internet, UK data-driven firms are now 40% more likely to launch new products and services than their rivals.

Last month, we announced a new £300 million joint research programme between the Hartree Science and Technology site in Daresbury and IBM. Hartree is now one of the world’s most advanced high performance computing facilities. It provides data analysis, modelling and simulation expertise that is saving UK companies time and money when developing new products. This autumn will also see the launch of the new Alan Turing Institute. The Institute, which will have its head quarters at the British Library, will work with industry to generate new opportunities from data analytics.

The sharing economy is another example of radical digital disruption. From homeowners able to make money from their property by renting out their spare room or driveway, to festival-goers able to save money by sharing a ride with a stranger, new platforms can help us use our assets more efficiently and productively. That’s why we are supporting the sharing economy, by supporting tenants that want to share their space and opening up government procurement to sharing platforms. We have also announced £700,000 to support ‘sharing city’ pilots in Manchester and Leeds, to see how the sharing economy can support local communities and public services

Cyber and consumer protection

It is also essential to ensure that UK businesses and citizens are aware of the threats arising as a result of the shift to a more digital economy. Government wants the UK to be one of the safest places in the world to do business.

According to our annual breaches survey which was published last week, 90% of large companies and 73% of small companies suffered an information security breach last year. To help raise awareness for businesses, our Cyber Streetwise campaign highlights the potential dangers and our Cyber Essentials scheme sets out steps that organisations should take to protect themselves against the most common cyber security threats. It is now mandatory for the suppliers of many government contracts to hold a Cyber Essentials certificate, so I urge all organisations to adopt Cyber Essentials so they can protect and promote themselves online.

We also recognise the importance of protecting consumers too. Earlier this year we announced a £3.5 million package to combat nuisance calls. This will help develop innovative call blocking technology and raise awareness of how to reduce and report nuisance calls.

Digital skills

Before you break off into your session on digital skills, I want to end my speech today to talk about how the UK can develop the right digital so that every individual has the confidence and ability to get online safely and that employers are getting the skills they value and need.

These are issues facing every developed country but here in the UK, we have a unique vantage point. We have 6 of the world’s top 60 engineering and technology universities and over twenty individual tech clusters, which are hot beds of specialist skills and expertise. The digital sector is a UK success story. It’s employing over 1.3 million people and we estimate needing a million new people for digital roles in the workforce within a decade.

But we cannot underestimate the scale of the challenge. The pace of technological change is rapid, which is why the government is committed to working in partnership with all sectors to put the UK in the strongest position it can be.

Digital inclusion

This starts with making sure that every individual has the basic digital skills and confidence they need to safely get online. In the last 4 years and working with partners, we have supported 1.5 million people to get these skills and start to realise the benefits of being online. Our ambition is to reach another one million people over the course of this parliament.

Upskilling the workforce

Ten years ago, who could have predicted that people would be employed to maintain a company’s Twitter account? So what is government doing to prepare the workforce for jobs that might not even exist yet?

The new computing curriculum is at the heart of creating a more digitally confident and adaptable population. We keep hearing about coding and, yes, teaching this is a key part of the change. But the new curriculum goes further, helping young people to think critically and analytically and to solve problems in the real world. What’s more the new curriculum signifies a belief that digital skills are important for everyone – regardless of background or gender.

High level technical skills

It’s essential that government works with industry to make sure we’re also providing the skills they need for specialist digital roles across the economy. Employers tell us that apprenticeships are really delivering what they need; and this confidence has seen them collaborating to create new standards for digital apprenticeships. From this year, innovative degree apprenticeships, delivered in partnership between universities and employers, will equip individuals with the highly prized mix of high level technical skills and on-the-job learning. As an apprenticeship, this is two thirds funded by government with the remaining third and a wage paid for by employers, making it attractive to individuals from all backgrounds.

We have also established the National College for Digital Skills, which is due to open its doors to full-time students in 2016, raising the bar for high quality provision. This aims to reach 5,000 learners within 5 years, providing a vital pool of digital talent and expertise.

Working in partnership

What is clear, is that the scale of the digital skills challenge needs us all to work together. Last year, we provided £18.4 million of funding, alongside employer support for the Tech Partnership. This industrial partnership is enabling employers to come together to voice and address their digital skills needs.

We’re also supporting innovative ways to reach more people. The BBC’s ‘Make It Digital’ campaign is a real testament to how bringing together a number of organisations and voices, can really drive awareness of the digital skills agenda.

The government is working in concert across a number of departments to deliver its truly digital agenda. At the heart of this is working at pace to embrace the changes and ensure that the UK is firmly on the map as the best place for digital skills. I look forward to working with you all more closely to make this the reality.

Speech: Creating jobs and driving growth: 20 years of the Alternative Investment Market

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 12:14:00 +0000

The British economy growing strongly after emerging from a deep recession. A Conservative Prime Minister with a small but workable majority. And the Westminster bubble dominated by talk of Britain’s future in Europe.

Yes, June 1995 was a very different time…

But during that long hot summer the London Stock Exchange changed forever with the arrival of the Alternative Investment Market ( AIM ).

It’s been said that while good companies meet needs, great companies create markets. Over the past 20 years more than 3,000 great companies have done just that, creating, in the AIM , a market that is the envy of the world.

And with AIM -listed companies contributing almost £15 billion to our economy each year, it’s no surprise that the model has been imitated by other exchanges in Europe and beyond.

But the British model will always be the original and best.

And this government will always support innovations like the AIM and the kind of entrepreneurs who make them such a success, many of whom are here with us this evening.

Over the past 20 years, well over £90 billion has been raised by companies listed on the AIM . That’s £90 billion invested in the future of exciting, ambitious businesses. £90 billion that has allowed innovative, growing companies to reach their true potential. And most importantly, £90 billion that has helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs for hardworking people right across the UK.

When the AIM does well, when entrepreneurs do well, the whole country does well. And I’m proud to say that this government has a long record of helping to make that happen.

We’ve changed the rules so that AIM shares can be held in ISAs, and abolished stamp duty on share purchases made on equity growth markets.

The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, introduced in 2012, has already supported more than 2,700 companies, helping them raise almost a quarter of a billion pounds of investment.

We’ve significantly expanded the qualifying limits to attract investment through the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Venture Capital Trust.

We supported the creation of the £2.5 billion Business Growth Fund, which invested more than £200 million in growth finance last year.

And of course we set up the British Business Bank, which is helping thousands of small, dynamic businesses unlock the finance they need in order to grow and create jobs.

That’s what we’re all about – supporting economic growth and job creation. So far we’re doing pretty well. More people are in work than at any point in British history, our economy is growing faster than any of our major rivals, and our Enterprise Bill will do even more to support British business. It’s due to be published later this year.

But it’s important to remember that the government simply creates the conditions in which private enterprise can thrive. For all the rhetoric you hear from politicians, governments don’t create jobs – businesses create jobs. Entrepreneurs create jobs. YOU create jobs.

Tonight I’m delighted to announce that the LSE Group is launching a new scheme to create high-quality apprenticeships for talented young people with the potential to excel at AIM -listed companies.

Run in partnership with the charity City Gateway, the scheme will bring together the innovative new companies that are the future of British business, and the hardworking young apprentices who are the future of the British workforce.

Because apprenticeships are not some kind of second-best option for working class kids who can’t get in to university. Apprenticeships provide young people with the opportunity to learn on-the-job while earning a proper wage. And they give employers like you the chance to train the skilled, loyal workforce you need in order to compete on the global stage.

Two million apprenticeships were created during the last Parliament. Between now and 2020 we want to see another 3 million starts. The AIM Apprenticeship scheme is exactly the kind of project that will help to make that vision a reality.

It’s a great initiative, and I’d urge everyone here to support City Gateway so it can help as many young people as possible.

We’re gathered here this evening at the home of the Honourable Artillery Company ( HAC ). With former HAC members ranging from Samuel Pepys to Edward Heath, I’m sure this square has seen some interesting sights over the years.

But I doubt any could compare to the spectacle on 15 September 1784, when 200,000 people turned out to watch the start of England’s first-ever manned balloon flight. After running a massive marketing campaign to attract support, an Italian named Vincenzo Lunardi took off from here and floated all the way to Ware in Hertfordshire.

His early efforts helped pave the way for other pioneers who would change the world forever. Because when innovative individuals have the right backing they can achieve incredible things. It was true in Lunardi’s day, and it’s still true more than 2 centuries later.

That’s why the AIM has been such a triumph. It brings together enterprising companies and the financial backers who can propel them on to greater things. For 20 years the AIM has fuelled innovation, driven growth and created jobs.

Congratulations to everyone who has helped make that happen – and here’s to many more years of success.

Speech: Support for small business: government plans

Tue, 19 May 2015 13:23:56 +0000

I’m delighted to be back in my home town of Bristol.

And to be here at Engine Shed – a place that captures everything that’s great about this city…

…past, present and future.

We’re in part of the original Temple Meads train station, designed by Brunel.

Today – thanks to Bristol University and the city council – there are promising start-ups here.

There are app developers and apprentices in residence – the business creators and skilled workers of the future. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing some fantastic examples already this morning.

It’s the perfect spot for me to talk about the government’s plans for business…

…in the city where I learned almost every important thing about business.

The business in question was beneath the flat on Stapleton Road – which I shared with my parents and 4 brothers.

It was a clothes shop…

…the basis of my deep knowledge of ladies’ clothing.

I’m certain no male MP knows more about womenswear. At least, I think that’s true.

But, most important, it was the culmination of my parents’ ambitions.

They came to this country in 1964 with dreams of a better life.

My dad started off working in a cotton mill.

Then he drove buses.

And, at weekends, he ran a clothing stall at the local market.

As trade grew, he got extra pitches – in Rochdale, Manchester and Liverpool.

Meanwhile my mum was back at home – looking after us and making clothes for the stall.

The sound of my childhood was her Singer sewing machine hammering away in the background.

Later, we got the shop on Stapleton Road.

Therein lay the soul of my family.

It was a 24/7 concern.

We all mucked in. I remember, aged 10, properly helping Dad.

Wearing the moneybelt, helping the customers, being in control.

Our fortunes, our happiness – they fluctuated with the day’s takings.

It instilled in me an unwavering belief in enterprise, opportunity and reward for hard work.

Above all, I know what it’s like to run a small business.

That’s why I’m here today to talk about what this government will do to support you.

I’m here to expand on what David Cameron said while visiting the Tetley factory in Stockton-on-Tees last week.

To add another tea bag to the pot.

The Prime Minister said this would be a government delivering for working people.

For hardworking taxpayers.

For men and women giving them the dignity of a job and the pride of a pay check.

He promised we would train 3 million more apprentices.

Improve childcare for people who want to work, or work longer.

And cut taxes.

The momentum we’ve gained over the last 5 years is for all to see.

2.2 million private sector jobs created since 2010…

…meaning we now have in the UK record employment.

750,000 more businesses created since 2010.

Almost 28,000 recipients of start-up loans…

…realising the dream of running and owning a business…

…in places like Bristol.

Make no mistake.

Government isn’t responsible for this entrepreneurial boom.

That’s down to individuals alone.

People with the guts and gumption to risk everything on starting something from scratch.

Meaning parents can bring home a family wage.

Putting communities back to work locally.

Planting the seeds of regional recovery and economic recovery.

…the strongest in the G7, the healthiest in Europe.

Thanks to them – thanks to you – Britain can look forward with greater confidence.

Yes, Britain is a nation of shopkeepers…

…of plumbers and hairdressers, florists and café owners.

Our great nation – together, strong, on the road to prosperity, as one.

And we’ve been on the side of business.

We cut corporation tax so the UK rate is now the lowest in the western world.

We cut national insurance contributions.

We cut the cost of regulation on UK business by some £10 billion.

And by getting on top of the deficit, we helped keep interest rates and funding rates low.

During the election, we promised to do more for business. Much more.

As one of our first acts, we’re introducing the enterprise bill.

Some people might know my love of Star Trek.

I wanted to call it the Starship Enterprise Bill, but the Prime Minister wasn’t convinced.

First and foremost, it will serve the interests of small business.

Second, it will simplify and clarify the business environment in this country.

And third, it will focus on jobs…

…so employers can create those additional 2 million jobs

…and their focus on growth isn’t obstructed by disproportionate industrial action.

So let me describe the next steps on deregulation – on paring back bureaucracy.

The manifesto promises a further £10 billion of cuts in red tape over the coming Parliament.

This £10 billion is going to be harder to slash than the previous £10 billion.

Recent reforms have already started to make a big difference.

Simpler audits for small business.

Less bureaucracy for house builders and developers.

Fewer employment disputes reaching costly tribunals.

Car mechanics and valets no longer have to do training that’s only useful to lorry drivers.

Child-minders no longer have to self-register as a food business.

Hundreds of live music and community events now exempted from entertainment licensing.

Thousands of regular businesses no longer face health and safety inspections.

And there’s less of the stuff that sometimes invites utter derision.

So no more slaps on the wrist for no-smoking signs in the wrong size or in the wrong place.

No need anymore to report any sightings of grey squirrels on your property.

If you leave your sandwich on the bus, the bus company no longer needs to hold on to it for 48 hours before putting it in the bin.

And, come Christmas, you can buy a box of crackers without having achieved the age of consent.

We already have the lowest burden of regulation in the G7.

But now we’re going to tackle European regulation head on…

…pressing EU institutions to reduce needless burdens on business…

…ensuring we implement EU law in a way that doesn’t put UK business at a competitive disadvantage.

Over the next 5 years, we’ll build on the success of ‘One in, two out’ to put a strict brake on new regs.

For the first time, the actions of regulators will be counted towards achieving the overall £10 billion in cuts.

This will be the first time in modern history that government has successively reduced red tape and continued with reductions in the next parliament.

And business will be our partner…

…giving us the evidence we need to roll back the state.

One crucial aspect of this roll back will be the extension of the rule that is known as Primary Authority.

Primary Authority allows a business to get advice on regulation from a single local council.

This advice must then be respected by all other local councils…

…reducing the time and cost to businesses of having to obey multiple masters.

When Primary Authority came in, the purpose was to help larger firms trading nationwide.

But it was so successful that we opened it to small business in 2013.

Today, more than two-thirds of the businesses taking advantage of Primary Authority are small businesses.

It frees them from inconsistent and confusing red tape.

It reduces their operational costs, and allows them to focus on expansion.

Butchers’ shops, convenience stores, restaurants, manufacturers.

Thanks to Primary Authority, cheese makers don’t have to display their cheddar on wooden boards in one place and on steel platters in another.

Yet only a tiny fraction of small businesses who could benefit are actually doing so.

So we’re going to simplify Primary Authority itself…

…making it far easier for small businesses to access the scheme.

And we’re going to extend its reach.

There’s one more area I wish to cover this morning.

It’s a subject that’s exercised me for some time.

There’s a situation familiar to small business owners up and down the country.

A letter turns up from a larger customer changing payment terms…

…or charging them to remain a supplier…

…and in some cases even deducting that charge on the spot against payment owed.

This pattern of behaviour is an outrage.

It’s bullying – pure and simple.

In 2008, late payment alone cost British business £19 billion.

This year, that’s set to exceed £40 billion.

The average amount owed to a small business is more than £30,000.

You know as well as I what figures like that can do to the cash flow of small businesses.

It’s enough to force a company into insolvency.

We’ve not been blind to these issues.

During the last Parliament, we introduced legislation requiring the UK’s largest companies to report on their payment practices.

That’s going to shine a light on poor performance when it comes into effect next April.

Recent U-turns show that public scrutiny can make big firms mend their ways.

We also strengthened the Prompt Payment Code to introduce a maximum 60 day payment term…

…and promote 30 days as the norm.

Government has rightly been leading by example.

We pay our suppliers within 30 days.

We’ve brought in measures requiring all public sector contracts to pay out within 30 days…

…all the way down the supply chain.

Now, we’re going to widen the powers for representative bodies to act on behalf of their members to challenge grossly unfair payment terms.

There’ll be a consultation on this later this year.

And we will fulfil the manifesto pledge to set up a Small Business Conciliation Service…

…to help small businesses settle their problems with large corporations.

The purpose is to avoid expensive legal costs and maintain business relationships by reaching mutually satisfactory agreements.

This model has worked in Australia.

We will explore it, and other models, and find what works best here in the UK.

Now this isn’t the sum total of what we’re planning to do.

Far from it.

We’re going to review business rates.

From April next year, no employer will pay national insurance for apprentices under 25.

Some of this action will require legislation and will be announced in the Queen’s speech. Some won’t need new legislation.

Either way, my message to you is clear.

If you believe in the values of hard work and enterprise, then we think along exactly the same lines.

If you’re behind a shop counter, behind the wheel of the van, behind a new invention…

…then we are right behind you.

If you’re striving to do what my parents did a generation ago – here in Bristol or anywhere else in Britain…

…build a business, create jobs, improve the prospects of your children…

…then you have my utmost respect, and you will have my total support.

Closed consultation: Adult vocational education: challenges over the next decade

Tue, 24 Mar 2015 09:30:00 +0000

We’re asking for your views on the main challenges that face adult further education over the next decade.

This document considers the:

role of higher vocational education
importance of helping individuals to gain the fundamental skills required for work and life
implications of these and wider government changes on adult further education colleges

We welcome responses from education providers, businesses and individuals.

Speech: Speech given at BAE Systems by Prime Minister David Cameron

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:00:00 +0000

It’s a huge privilege to be here today, and I want to start by congratulating BAE for taking on 800 apprentices this year. That is a record in your company’s history. I think it’s a really great achievement. It’s going to be great for the people involved but it’s also really, really important and good for our country.

And I want to say, before I really start, just when I look at this company and what you do, and I have the huge privilege of being Prime Minister and seeing what you do, I think you should be incredibly proud of what this company does. Right now, you are building some of the biggest warships the Royal Navy has ever had, including the 2 aircraft carriers. You’re launching submarines from Barrow that are some of the most advanced and silent and brilliant anywhere in the world, that enable us to keep our country safe. Here you’re making the Typhoon, an aircraft that has proved itself again and again in the skies over Libya, over Iraq, over the skies of our own country, and I get to see that first-hand. So this is a brilliant manufacturing technology and engineering business, and you should be really proud of what you do.

Before taking your questions – and that is what today’s about, your questions and I will try and answer them – I just wanted to make 3 points. The first is that we have a plan in our country, an economic plan, and the plan is working. It’s a plan about getting the country back to work. It’s a plan about getting our economy growing. It’s a plan about getting our deficit and our debts under control and it’s a plan about rebalancing our economy between south and north so we have a genuinely balanced economy, not so reliant on finance and services, but also reliant on manufacturing and technology.

Now, I can’t claim that in the last 5 years we’ve solved all those country’s problems – that would be wrong – but we have created 1,000 new jobs every day. We are now the fastest growing major economy in the Western world. We got the deficit down by half as a share of our economy, and jobs and livelihoods are growing in every part of the country, not just the south. Indeed, there have been more apprentices created in the north west, and, over the last year, the claimant count has fallen faster in the north west than anywhere else in the country. So we got a plan. The plan is working. We should stick to the plan.

Second point is that BAE Systems is actually a key part of that plan. I say we need to train more young people and you are investing in apprentices. I say we need to export more to other parts of the world and you are blazing a trail with your exports up over the last 5 years, and I believe more to come. I believe we need to rebalance this economy between south and north, between finance and manufacturing, and that’s exactly what you’re doing with your training, with your investment and with your future plans. So you’re a key part of the plan that is working that’s creating a stronger economy.

But the third thing I wanted to say is I want us, as a country, to be more ambitious, and more ambitious in a couple of really important regards. Yes, we’ve got more people in work in our country than ever before but we should be aiming for full employment, for anyone who wants a job, should be able to get a job. We don’t have that situation yet but if we stick to the plan, we keep investing, we keep growing, we can get there.

But I also want us to be more ambitious – even more ambitious on apprenticeships. We created 2 million in this Parliament. [Political content removed]

And there’s a new way that I’m announcing today that I want us to be even more ambitious. And that is I think that when young people leave school, they should either be going into an apprenticeship – as many of you have done – or going on to university to study a degree. That’s the aim. Everyone should have 1 of those 2 opportunities. So increasing apprenticeships but we’re also uncapping the number of university places. And today I can announce a new idea, a new scheme which is actually to bring the two together. To have a degree apprenticeship, so, as you leave school at 18, you would become an apprentice and you would start studying for your degree at the same time. Your fees at university would be paid for by a combination of the government support and the company that would be backing you.

Now I think this is really exciting because, of course, today you can do a degree and then you can do an apprenticeship. Or you can do an apprenticeship and then you can do a degree. But bringing the two together and being able to do the two at the same time, earning while you are learning, I think is really exciting. I think it will be very good for the young people involved because you get a degree, you get the skills without having to pay the fees; you’re earning while you’re learning.

It’s good for the companies because I think companies are keen to get hold of talented young people and train them up, and many can’t manage to attract the best graduates but under this scheme they’ll be able to get them, train them and work with them before they become graduates. And it will be good for our country because the basic truth is this: we are in a global race, global competition with other countries and we’ll win if we have the most skilled, most trained, most motivated workforce in the world. And that is the vision that we should have.

So I wanted to make that announcement today about being ambitious: ambitious for full employment, ambitious for more apprenticeships and ambitious for degree apprenticeships, the new scheme announced today.

That was what I wanted to say. Thank you for the welcome. Congratulations on appointing 800 apprentices this year. Thanks for what you’re doing, building these extraordinary aircraft and all the other work across BAE Systems. And with that, who wants to give me the first question.

Question

What will you do to ensure that the aerospace industry in the north west is not only secure but grows?

Prime Minister

What will I do to keep it growing? Well, the first thing I can do is to carry on in the job that I have. I’m Prime Minister but I’m also – I joke with Ian – I’m one of your unpaid sales staff. I like to get out around the world and encourage people, our partners and our allies, to buy the great equipment that we make.

And I want to make this point quite frankly. No one should be embarrassed or worried by the fact that we make defence equipment and we sell it to our allies around the world. It is an absolutely legitimate business. And I tell you why it is legitimate, because sometimes people forget this. We have a right in our country to self-defence, don’t we? We can invest in our defence industries and in our armed forces to defend ourselves. Other countries have that right too and you can’t expect every country to produce every last piece of equipment that is necessary for their defence. So we have one of the most tightly-controlled and licensed defence sales businesses in the world but it is a legitimate business. [Political content removed] So get out there and promote the great kit that we’ve got.

Second of all, the apprenticeship scheme, the skills, is absolutely essential. But third, and perhaps most crucially, is that people will only believe that we have great equipment if we are investing in it ourselves. And so I have said that the £16 billion that we spend every year on defence equipment, we are committed to that for 10 years. So you have a £160 billion defence equipment budget that will go up in real terms each year so we can plan for the future because it’s no good if you chop and change your defence equipment all the time. We need to know that we can afford those aircraft carriers, those Type 26 frigates, those submarines that you’re building at Barrow-in-Furness. We need to know that the money is there. So the equipment budget is sacrosanct, is protected, and so I think the combination of the equipment budget, the skills we’re investing in, the work we do with our allies overseas, I think there’s a very bright future for aerospace. We’re the number 2 in the world after the United States, and, I think, if we go on doing those things, there’s no reason why we can’t keep that position for the future.

Question

Hi, what I wanted to know is what kind of message would you give to young people who may not utilise their vote in the general election?

Prime Minister

What I would say to everyone, please vote, even if you’re not going to vote for me. Vote because it is important. There are people all over the world who, you know, would love to be able vote and people who have died for the right to vote. And so I would say, if only for that reason, get out and vote and make your choice and read up about what the different politics and policies and parties are.

But I would also challenge the whole kind of Russell Brand nonsense about voting doesn’t matter or doesn’t make any difference. I think he’s completely wrong. It does make a difference. You know, you might agree with me, or you might agree with the other guy, but we have very different ideas about the future of the country. [Political content removed] I’ve got a vision for the future of the country. Now his vision’s different. So don’t let anyone say there aren’t differences between the politicians. There are. You choose.

Final point I’d make – odd one maybe for a Prime Minister to make. One of the great things about voting is you can get rid of people you don’t like. In our system, you know, whether it’s your local council, whether it is your Prime Minister, your Member of Parliament, you can chuck them out, literally. You know, if you vote against me on 8 May, I’ll be driving a removal van up Downing Street and packing up and going. That’s the way it works. It’s incredibly valuable. [Political content removed] But it is a really powerful thing so don’t let anyone tell you voting doesn’t matter. It does. It’s a privilege. It’s not compulsory – we shouldn’t do that – but it’s a privilege and you should make the most of it.

Question

Hi, my question is to you is what are we going to do about the Russian Bears invading our airspace?

Prime Minister

Right, okay. Good point because, of course, when these Russian aircraft fly close to British airspace, as they have done on several occasions this year, 1 of these or 2 of these fantastic Typhoon aircraft are immediately up in the air and escorting those aircraft away from British airspace, and so it’s a reminder of just how essential the Typhoons that you build are to our air defences.

What are we going to do about it? Well first of all, I think we should recognise that the Russians are probably trying to make some sort of point here. They’re showing off their capabilities. We shouldn’t overreact because these planes haven’t actually come into our sovereign airspace. They’ve been flying around it. But we should keep our defences strong. We should make sure we can scramble these Typhoons at a moment’s notice and escort them away from any danger. So keep our defences strong, make clear to the Russians that they might be trying to make some sort of point, but frankly we’re not very impressed by it. And make sure that we have the capabilities to keep our air defences strong, which we do.

And these are extraordinarily capable aircraft, and I know that because when aircraft fly into a British sovereign airspace that we don’t know about, I know exactly how fast these things can get up in the air and get alongside any aircraft, whether it is rogue or unknown or whatever, and how quickly we can take action. So we should be very proud of the capabilities we’ve got right here.

Question

Do you believe that research is important, not only to manned but unmanned aircraft for us to keep in our – keep our level in this year – in this – in the country and in the world?

Prime Minister

I think this is a really important point because the truth is that the next platforms are likely to be more unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs. And if you are going to be a front rank defence player, you’ve always got to be thinking of the next development. So let’s be incredibly proud of the Typhoon. It’s a world-beating aircraft. I think you’ve got forward orders of some 370 and hopefully will have some more as we show it off around the world, how capable it is.

But we should be thinking of the next step, and the next steps are even more stealthy aircraft, more unmanned aerial aircraft, and for that what we should be doing is working out who to partner with so that we can jointly invest in the research and development, but make sure there’s a really big British footprint involved in it. And so I signed something with the French called the Lancaster House Agreement, and I think France and Britain, as the 2 major military players in Europe, I think there’s a real opportunity for us to work together on this future technology.

There’s vital work you’re doing here, there’s a commitment from the government to the research and development, there’s a knowledge that future aircraft are quite likely to be unmanned. I wouldn’t say the age of the piloted fighter jet is over, not least because of course we’ve got the Joint Strike Fighter coming up next, which many of you will be working on. But clearly, more unmanned aircraft drones, ISTAR, intelligence gathering aircraft – these are going to be a vital part of the future and we have to be doing the research now, otherwise we’ll be left behind.

And this leads to a really important point that sometimes I think people don’t get about defence. Your defence budget – it’s no good if you just keep it where it is and keep the capabilities that you have. You have to keep thinking to the future: what is it we’re going to need? And I can tell you, as Prime Minister, when we’re thinking about how do we help the Nigerians rescue the Chibok girls, or how do we try and help recover a hostage on the other side of the world, or how do we help our allies in Iraq and Syria to deal with terrorists on the ground, more and more what we need is intelligence, surveillance, information gathering, we need forces that are very mobile. So if you just stick with what you’ve got – if we stick with, you know, battle tanks rather than drones, we’d be making the wrong decision. Of course you need both, but the job of government is to get the balance right, and the balance needs to shift more in favour of research development and the future capabilities because otherwise we won’t be able to intervene in the ways that keep our country and our people safe.

Question

Hi. My question is, you said this company is a key part to your plan, but I’m guessing that means the Successor Programme as well, and I was just wondering what you’re doing to sway the voters who are against the Trident replacement.

Prime Minister

Okay, very good point, Trident replacement. Well, first of all, thank you for what you’re doing at Barrow with the hunter-killer submarines. They’re absolutely vital. But we must, in my view, replace the Trident submarines and renew our nuclear deterrent.

And it’s worthwhile, for a moment, sort of standing back and considering why this is necessary. It’s obviously a lot of money, it’s a big investment, but I have quite a straightforward view about it, which is we live in a very dangerous world, the nuclear deterrent is our ultimate insurance policy against blackmail, and you’ve got to recognise that there are lots more states in the world that are trying to attain nuclear weapons. So to me, the idea of giving up our nuclear deterrent or weakening our nuclear deterrent at a time of uncertainty and danger, when you’ve got countries trying to acquire nuclear weapons, that is a risk we shouldn’t take.

So if you’ve passed that question, you’ve then got to ask, ‘Well, what does a replacement to Trident look like?’ And I’ve looked at all the arguments, and it seems to me incontrovertible that the best form of deterrents is a submarine-based system that can be continuously at sea, so that it is undetectable and can always give you the assurance that your deterrent is inviolable. So to me, it has to be continuously at sea, submarine-based, and we have to replace it in full. Now, the argument that I will make, and I’ll make it all over the country, is simply that – that, you know, in a dangerous world, you need the ultimate insurance policy and the price you pay for that insurance policy is fair, given that if you gave it up, you’d never be able to regenerate it.

[Political content removed] It also means jobs, it means technology, it means research and development. I think it’d be very difficult to maintain some of our other capabilities if we didn’t have this capability. But those are all secondary arguments, but I will make the first principle argument: Britain’s a front-rank power, we should have that insurance policy, and that means renewing Trident. [Political content removed]

Question

Hi. I’d like to know how your plan for apprenticeships is better than what other parties are offering.

Prime Minister

Well, I think the good thing is that everyone is interested in apprenticeships. Everyone recognises this is a model that works. And what we did as a government is obviously we had to make some difficult decisions and there were some areas we had to reduce some spending. So for instance, we said to the police, you do a great job but we want you to do it with a lower budget, and they’ve done it and crime has fallen. They’re done a great job. But we looked at apprenticeships and thought actually this is an area where we really should be expanding. [Political content removed]

I think second thing is, this degree apprenticeship – I don’t know what the other parties think, but this is work that we’ve done, listening to businesses, particularly maybe slightly smaller businesses than BAE, maybe some of your suppliers, some of whom have said to us we really want to hire bright graduates, but we sometimes lose out against the big companies because they can do the milk round, they can attract very bright graduates, so we would like to invest in graduates before they even go to university. And so I think this is a very neat scheme which we are particularly pioneering.

So I think it’s good there’s sort of cross-party agreement, apprenticeships are good, but I would argue we’ve thought it through, we’ve put a number on it, and crucially, you know, you can only afford things like apprenticeship programmes if you’ve got a strong economy, and because of the policies we’ve pursued, you know, we’ve created the jobs, we’ve got the economy going, we’re getting the deficit down – a strong economy can support skills and universities and good schools and the rest of it. A weak economy where you don’t get hold of the debts, then you get into trouble.

Question

Hi. I’m curious what you’re doing to try and make housing both more affordable and make sure that it goes to young people.

Prime Minister

Yes. Yes. Very good question. The bold truth is, we just haven’t built enough homes in Britain for many years. Housebuilding has basically declined every decade since the 1960s. So there’s a fundamental problem we’ve got to get to grips with, and that is one of the reasons we have reformed the planning system. We replaced a thousand pages of planning rules with just 50 pages and now we’ve seen, I think, in the last year 240,000 planning permissions go through, so we are building more houses.

But I don’t think that’s enough just to build houses. We need to change the system, and there are two fundamental things we’ve done that I think will make a big difference. One is Help to Buy. This is a scheme that basically recognises many of you in a couple of years’ time with a well-paid job and a partner in a job – you could afford a mortgage payment, and so you could afford to live in a house you own, but you might struggle to get the deposit together because the banks and the building societies recently have only been offering 70%, 80% loan-to-value mortgages.

So Help to Buy says, if you can afford the mortgage payments, we will help you by ensuring that part of the mortgage that takes us up to 90% or 95%. So this has enabled 88,000 people in our country in the last 3 years, young people mostly, to buy their first home because they’ve been able to have a small deposit, maybe £10,000 or £15,000, and then they’ve been able to afford the mortgage payment. So Help to Buy is absolutely crucial and we’ll keep that going in the next parliament.

Second thing we’re going to do is build starter homes for sale rather than for rent. I think most people want to own their own flat or their own home. They don’t want to rent forever, and so we need to build homes that young people can afford. So these homes, they’ll be 80% of the normal market value. We won’t make the builders have to build so many other affordable homes at the same time to keep the price down. They’ll be reserved for people who are under the age of 40 so they can’t be bought by buy-to-let landlords, they can’t be bought by foreign property investors, they are reserved for young people living in Britain who want to get on the housing ladder.

So I think those 3 things: change the planning system to get Britain building, build starter homes, and have Help to Buy so you don’t need a massive great deposit. Those 3 things I think will make a real difference, because I want us to be a country where people who work hard, who do the right thing, can afford to buy their own home, and at the moment not enough people are able to do that, and it needs to change.

Question

Thank you. Some professional staff across several companies feel that apprentices are being brought in to replace their jobs. How do you propose to create the harmony to, you know, encourage new apprentices to come in but also to restore the faith in all these people who are building these things?

Prime Minister

I think – yes. Look, I think that’s a really good point because there is a danger, of course, that companies will hire apprentices in order to have relatively low-cost labour to replace people who are working very hard. And that’s why we have to make sure that the apprenticeship schemes are quality schemes, that there is real training and education involved. And the apprenticeship minister is sitting right in front of me, Matt Hancock, and that is a very important part of his role to make sure that we don’t let companies do that. So they have to be good schemes, good quality, good education.

So, yes, the company’s benefiting, because they’re getting bright people to work for them, but the individuals are benefitting too because they’re getting training and they’re getting skills. And that, I think, is the key because we’ve got to make sure that, as you leave your apprenticeship, you’re going to get a well-paid job. And I was asking here, you know, what the figures are, and actually they compare very well – better – 4 years of an apprenticeship here, at BAE Systems, you’re earning more than a university graduate going into a graduate job typically would get. So, you know, I think it is working, but we’ve got to keep our eye on the quality of the apprenticeships. And also, I think we need to look at the minimum wages that are paid, including the apprenticeship minimum wage, which I want to see rise. I think it’s time for that to rise, and I hope we can make some progress in the coming days.

Question

Hi. I’m just wondering with the US saying that we – they were worried about how much we spend about defence. Do you think that we need to spend more on, you know, BAE or defence as a whole?

Prime Minister

Yes. Look, I think the defence budget is absolutely a crucial part of our national security. There are other parts too. We’ve got to invest in our security services, intelligence services, GCHQ, policing. These things are all about our national security. Our defence budget is the second biggest in NATO. We’re one of the only countries in Europe that spend 2% of our GDP on defence. And what I’ve said very clearly is, look, the most important thing is that we are clear about the equipment budget for the next ten years, because that is really the key to having a – forces and capabilities that, with the Americans and others, we can make a difference in the world.

And so, I’m not saying all of it will go to BAE Systems. But the £160 billion over the next 10 years that’s going to pay for the aircraft carriers, the Type 26s, the submarines, the typhoons, the F-35s – in my constituency, I’ve got the Voyager aircraft, and the A400Ms at RAF Brize Norton. The money for those things is there, so we can have the confidence we’re going to be a front rank defence player with the Americans. We meet 2%. We meet it this year, we’ll meet it next year. The time to set the defence budget overall is at the next spending round, but I will be very cognisant of the fact that, you know, you get what you pay for in defence.

What we’ve done the last 5 years is that we basically kept the defence budget level, at about £35 billion: as I say, fifth biggest in the world, second biggest in NATO. And by keeping it level, we’ve had to take some difficult decisions, but actually we’ve got rid of the great black hole in our defence budget, where we were signed up to lots of things we couldn’t afford. What we’re now signed up to, we can afford.

And crucially, when you talk to our troops, when you talk to our navy, our RAF, and you ask them about their equipment, you know, they say we’ve now got some of the best equipment anywhere in the world. I always ask this question. I’ve been to Afghanistan, I think 13 times in the last 10 years, and the last time I went, you know, not a complaint about helicopters, about equipment, about body armour, about what we’ve got for our forces. So, I’m satisfied we have a strong budget. We’re going to have to set it at the next spending round, but the equipment budget is absolutely secured, and I think that’s the crucial part of the long-term deal for defence.

Question

Good morning, Prime Minister. I am an employer of apprenticeships and degrees as well, and I do consider there’s a – what you’ve announced today, I think it’s absolutely brilliant in terms of the linkages between apprentices and degree courses. But as an employer, we do find there’s a delta between the graduates coming out of university now, in having the appropriate skills that the universities are offering them, to the actual skills that we need as an employer in industry and in engineering. So, I was just wondering if more could be done to align the universities to engage with the companies to create those specific needs and work closer?

Prime Minister

I think that’s a really important point. You know, at the end of the day, the education system’s only working if we’re producing school leavers and graduates that can do the jobs that a modern economy is generating. And I think degree apprenticeships absolutely will help with that, because, in future, if you want, you can talk to a school leaver about doing an apprenticeship with you and a degree at the same time, and so you’ll be working with them through their university career. But that’s only 1 solution. I would say also we need employers to get stuck in with the universities and talk to them about the capabilities and the courses that would be most useful for them. I think that would make a difference.

Third thing is publishing better information. It’s disappointing we still don’t really have – we will have soon, but a proper database where you can search, ‘If I do this degree at this university, or this course at this college, what job and what pay am I likely to get?’ We should have a totally searchable database so that young people can see far more detail about what I will get out of the education I’m undertaking. I think that would make a difference.

Third and final thing. This is very basic, but the basics really matter. Lots of companies I go to, when I ask them how many apprentices they’re creating, they might say 10 or 20. And then I ask how many people apply, and they’ll say 100/200. And I say, ‘Well, how on earth do you decide how to take the 10 or the 20?’ And they say, ‘Well, the problem is, Prime Minister, that all too often lots of the people applying haven’t got the basic maths and English that are at the heart of any apprenticeship.’ And I do think we do need to make sure that everyone in our school is studying English and maths at least to GCSE level, so that they’ve got those basic qualifications. I think, in the past, sometimes people were almost told, you know, well there are vocation skills and there are academic skills. But actually English and maths are key vocational skills as well. So, I think instilling that into our primary and secondary schools is absolutely vital to solving the problem that you are talking about.

Can I thank you again for the very warm welcome? Can I thank you for what you do at this amazing company? Can I wish you well, all of you starting out or some way through your apprenticeships? I hope you find you’ve made really great choice, because in the end this is what this is all about. We can talk about policies and manifestos and facts and figures, but in the end what it’s about is: are we giving people the chance to get on in life and achieve their dreams, to get a decently paid job, to raise a family, to have a home of their own, to enjoy a decent quality of life in this great country? That, to me, is what apprenticeships are about, and that is what great businesses like this are all about. It’s a privilege to work with you here at BAE Systems [Political content removed] ] It’s been an enormous privilege over the last 5 years to get to know just some of what you do at this great business. Thank you very much indeed.

Speech: StudentshIP Enterprise Awards 2015

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 14:00:05 +0000

Hello. I am delighted to be here to launch our new online training package - Intellectual Property ( IP ) Tutor - and present the prizes for our StudentshIP Enterprise Awards. There are 3 important themes today:

helping people understand the value and importance of IP
giving people the skills they need to compete in a demanding employment market
ensuring growth that will create job opportunities for the future

Ministers are sometimes accused of only talking about success and of ignoring anything which does not fit into this happy pattern. I want to do the opposite and mention some of the reasons why it is essential we make progress on these 3 issues.

I take as my text a European Commission report of September 2014 on member states’ competitiveness. Say what you like about the Commission, they are good at putting together dispassionate, reasonably objective, accounts of how matters stand.

Some of their report makes uncomfortable reading. Our manufacturing constitutes a significantly lower percentage of Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) than it does in most member states; and manufacturing productivity is increasing more slowly than most. Our young adult population scores significantly below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) average on basic skills and qualifications. And whilst larger companies tend to provide training or education, most companies are small and just 15% of employers offer apprenticeships, many of which are low level. Plenty to work on there. And we are making good progress especially on apprenticeships and on improving the results in our schools.

Of course there are some good points in the report. For example on innovation we are recognised as above average.

That makes it all the more important that we press ahead energetically with advances like those we are discussing today. The only way to get better is to actively seek to improve.

I turn now to IP , our main subject.

The UK has a proud history of innovation and creativity and we also enjoy a rich cultural heritage in which the creative industries make a vital contribution.

As Minister for Intellectual Property I am clear that future generations should understand the ins and outs of intellectual property. This is important for everything from defending our biggest or newest brands to the copyright in pop music and the patents for life saving drugs.

I believe that every child should leave school with a basic understanding of IP principles and a respect for others’ IP . All graduates should know enough about IP to manage ideas effectively within their chosen field.

To achieve that goal we need to make IP an integrated part of learning from the earliest school years through primary, secondary and higher education. In a recent report, Mike Weatherley MP said the government needed to support education professionals, with online resources and lesson plans, so IP finds its way into the curriculum via other subjects.

From the earliest age, our children will be given opportunities to connect with the basic principles of intellectual property.

We have worked with Aardman Animations – a great example of a highly successful British company. We have developed a competition, aligned with the new film Shaun in the City, that allows children to explore the different types of intellectual property. Alongside this there are lesson plans and activities for teachers to introduce the concepts of innovation, creativity and IP in the classroom. These aren’t for standalone ‘ IP lessons’, they link to core curriculum subjects. By doing all this children will understand how IP links to the real world – from fiction and works of art to the world of fashion where designs and brands are a huge part of value created, to wearable electronics now used in sport or long term medical care.

Over the coming year, we will be extending this further by developing materials aimed at secondary school pupils. These will link into topics such as business studies, information technology and music. We will be building an online portal, drawing together resources, games and videos to support IP education for all students throughout their school and university life.

As children grow up it won’t just be school lessons that are important. It will also be the culture they experience in their peer group. We need them really to understand why IP is so important. Many young people aspire to careers in IP rich industries – even if they are not aware of it. The UK has an outstanding record in creative industries – music, computer games and television. We have a proud record in invention and design too – Dyson being just one house hold name that excels in this area. These businesses rely on intellectual property. By protecting their IP they are able to generate income for their business, build a competitive advantage and invest in future innovation.

We are working with partners to demonstrate the value of IP to businesses. The BBC’s ‘Dragons’ Den’ has inspired many would-be entrepreneurs to protect their IP from the outset. Working with UK Music we developed Music Inc, an app based game that allows people to experience the highs and lows of taking a new artist and nurturing them to become a star. In the year since we launched the game we have had over 190,000 players and we can see that, as they see the impact of piracy, their behaviours within the game begin to change – so we know this approach really can work.

You are here today representing the brightest and best of the UK’s talent - our university students. We know that they are looking to maximise their employment prospects and that the job market for student leavers has changed. Today’s graduates know that they can no longer rely on their core qualifications alone to secure graduate level employment.

For these reasons, giving them a sound understanding of business and professional conduct, along with nurturing entrepreneurial attributes is important. IP is a key element of this innovative enterprise and is now vital for University leavers.

A survey of students told us that 80% felt that IP was important for their future careers, yet only 40% think their knowledge is sufficient – clearly there is room for improvement here.

Over the coming years, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education ( QAA ) - will be reviewing the benchmarks for university courses. These set out the essential elements a degree course must cover. The IPO is working closely with the QAA to include IP in the relevant subject benchmarks.

Engineering is especially important. I know as my step daughter works on the international construction of a nuclear fusion reactor at ITER in the South of France, the biggest construction project in Europe on some metrics. An amendment has already been made to the benchmark for engineering degrees and all engineering courses offered from September 2016 will include a component of IP learning.

Today we are here to launch IP Tutor, an excellent online learning tool. You will have an opportunity to try it for yourselves later today. It covers all the basic forms of IP – patents, designs, copyright, trade marks and trade secrets. It has a number of different paths tailored to meet the needs of different disciplines. So, whether you are a student in a STEM subject or one of the humanities, specialising in business or law, or a creative arts student – there is an IP Tutor option for you.

Learning is a vital first step but we also need to help students put what they learn into practice. I will shortly be awarding prizes to the winners of the StudentshIP Enterprise Awards.

These awards promote and celebrate the practical application of IP skills. We had an excellent field to choose from. Competition was fierce, with some really strong entries and great ideas. And no one knows who is going to win!

We know that, right now, the IP education we are giving young people is not good enough. But this will improve. It must improve. Ours is an increasingly knowledge based economy – we invest more in intangible assets than in buildings or machinery. Future generations need to understand IP . It is through the development of new ideas, design and creativity that we will secure long term growth. And through this long term growth we will create job opportunities. Through integration of IP into the school room and university life we can achieve this. I hope you will join me in spreading the word – IP is essential for our future.

Speech: Future of manufacturing

Thu, 26 Feb 2015 11:03:00 +0000

It’s a pleasure to be here at the EEF today, and to be addressing you, the people who’ve designed, built, and welded together the British recovery. I want to begin by thanking EEF for inviting me to speak.

You are tireless advocates for UK manufacturing. Even though no-one knows what your initials stand for, we all know what you stand for: supporting the manufacturing businesses that are crucial for the future of our economy.

The people in this room, you enrich our society by exporting, by investing, by creating jobs.

Your success is mission critical to our vision…

Of a country that pays its way…

that is more balanced, by sector, by geography…
here we strive to be the best place in the world to start and grow a business…
in so doing become the most prosperous major nation upon this earth…

I am proud to be part of a government with this long-term economic plan at its heart, which strains day and night to champion your interests. We will back you, not just with rhetoric - though we will unashamedly do that. We will back you with action.

You told us you needed a more balanced economy, with more growth outside the South East.

We’ve listened and we’re creating the Northern Powerhouse, with jobs growing faster in the North East and North West than in London.

You told us you needed action on energy costs.

We’ve listened and introduced a £7 billion package of support, including compensation for energy-intensive industries to stop industry simply moving overseas.

You told us you needed more high quality, employer-led apprenticeships.

We’ve asked leading companies in aerospace, automotive, life sciences and food, to rewrite the apprentice rulebook. Already young people are starting on these new trailblazer Apprenticeships, rigorous and responsive to employers’ needs.

You told us you needed a modern industrial strategy: custom-made policy support for all industries which require government to take a long-term view.

From the new sector councils, to our Catapult innovation centres, to funding partnerships for the latest technology – in partnership, we are delivering.

And today we publish our Manufacturing Supply Chain Action Plan which sets out our next steps to strengthen supply chains further.

We believe in manufacturing, not because we see you as producers rather than predators, not because you’re a handy source of tax, but because we believe in British business.

I don’t care whether you’re a FTSE giant, a mid-cap mittelstand, or a micro-business you run off your kitchen table, whether you’re based in London or Londonderry, whether you work at a desk, a factory, or drive a white van. What matters to me - what matters to us - is that you provide things other people want to buy. You solve other peoples’ problems.

And my first question is ‘what can we do to make it easier to help you to do business?’

In some areas this means government doing less. Less taxing, less regulating, less spending the country can’t afford.

In this parliament we’ve delivered the most competitive corporation tax in the G20, doubled the annual investment allowance, and taken 400,000 small businesses out of employer NICs altogether with our Employment Allowance.

We’ve taken £10 billion off the cost of domestic red tape and are on track to be the first Government in modern times to reduce the burden of regulation.

I want to thank the EEF in particular for your strong support for our Focus on Enforcement programme in which you tell us how we can improve the way regulations are inforced.

Our action on red tape has included cutting employment tribunals by 80 percent, freeing thousands of firms from unnecessary inspections. It’s part of a wider drive to remove unnecessary burdens.

We’ve even removed the age restrictions on the sale chocolate liqueurs.

Because we all know the sad sight of a group of teenagers, sat on a park bench, off their heads on a box of Thorntons.

Tackling regulatory burdens will also form part of our plans to reform Europe, and address uncertainty over Britain’s unhappy relationship with Europe in the next parliament, once and for all.

And we’ve kept interest rates low and our economy safe by not deviating from our deficit reduction plan. I want to thank you, very personally, for the support you gave us when siren voices insisted we abandon course. You stuck with us and we saw it turn out right.

And you know it’s not enough just to stop at that. It’s not just about government doing less.

There are some things government needs to do more of: on skills, finance, infrastructure and science.

So we are unabashedly interventionist.

Take science. Working alongside business and using the best independent research, we have identified eight great technologies where the UK has the capability to become a world leader: from robotics, to regenerative medicine.

We are backing them and we are doing so alongside private sector investment.

For years Britain had a reputation as a place where ideas were born, but where commercial deployment happened elsewhere. We are ending that, supporting great ideas all the way from the lab to the marketplace.

On finance, we’ve introduced tough new regulations for the City, to clear up the mess from the crash.

And we’ve established the British Business Bank, the first of its kind in the UK, with a mandate to unlock new forms of business finance, including new challenger banks.

The Business Bank also manages our successful Start-Up Loan programme, which has helped start 25,000 small businesses so far.

On skills we have put in place radical long-term reforms.

When we came into government, so-called ‘programme-led’ apprenticeships meant that some apprentices were not required to spend any time in the workplace at all.

We’ve changed the rules so that every apprenticeship must be a paid job, in a real workplace, lasting at least 12 months, and with high quality off-the-job training.

Some predicted that tackling quality in this way would lead to a fall in the quantity of apprentices.

In fact, the number of people doing an apprenticeship has doubled since the election. We have already seen the two millionth Apprentice in this parliament.

I’m proud of this rejuvenation of an ancient concept - in the next parliament we have committed to three million high quality, employer-led Apprentices.

This pro-youth, pro-opportunity agenda is working. Youth unemployment is falling at record rates. Apprenticeships are a partnership between government and business for the betterment of both the economy and society. In that sense they are a metaphor for our wider approach.

Because you are the ultimate source of society’s prosperity, any sensible Government has an obligation to support you to succeed. After all, business, done right is a force for good in society. But businesses in turn have obligations to the free enterprise society of which they are a part.

Markets are free and competitive only in a strong framework - of law and reasonable behaviour. It’s a reciprocal arrangement, something for something.

Here’s the way I see this deal:

we’ll keep taxes low, but we expect them to be paid in full
we’ll keep Whitehall off your back, but we expect you to pay your suppliers on time
when the economy’s in a slump we’ll understand if you can’t manage a pay-rise, but when it’s growing that’s exactly what we want to see

I have huge faith in that partnership because of what it has achieved so far:

three quarters of a million new businesses, since 2010
1.8 million more people in work
2 million apprenticeships
the fastest growth in the G7
world number one for research citations
record numbers going to university
record numbers from the poorest backgrounds going to university
record numbers of women, young people, older people and people from ethnic minorities all starting their own business
business investment up
exports to China up
wages rising
energy bills falling
the deficit halved

Yes there is more to do. But. That is what is at risk if we were to abandon our long-term economic plan. And I want to talk very frankly for a second about that risk.I thought about whether to do so in this speech. It would be better if I didn’t have to. But I come from a small business background. I know from personal experience what it’s like when the economy goes wrong and it affects your business and your family.

And now, I’m privileged to be in a position to try to stop it happening to others.

We will to stand up for small business on late payment. We’ve already legislated to require large companies to publish their payment terms. This transparency will allow us to highlight the best, and also admonish the worst sort of behaviour. It will help us make prompt payment a boardroom subject, as it needs to be.

We must change UK payment culture. Unacceptable payment terms must stop. Why should long payment terms be deemed acceptable business practice here when they are not in many of our major competitors, like Germany?

From this week, all public sector contracts must by law pay on 30 days, and the 30 day terms must be cascaded down the supply chain.

Today I can announce we will go further.

I don’t want to legislate to interfere with a contract law that is used throughout the world. But I am not prepared to take further legislation off the table if payment culture doesn’t improve.

We are rewriting the Prompt Payment Code.

Now it will say that 30 day payment terms are to be the norm of acceptable behaviour in the UK, with 60 days as the maximum in all but exceptional circumstances. This revised Code will have teeth, with a new enforcement body which will be able to eject companies that fail to live up to the new standards, and potentially with the power to levy fines.

I have written to major firms to explain that new transparency measures will make a company’s payment terms a reputational issue. Now I expect all major UK companies to sign up to the tougher new Prompt Payment Code and tackle this problem once and for all.

For ultimately, a contract law people can trust, where agreements signed up to are reasonable, and are then followed, is good for businesses large and small.

We expect the very best of British business because of working with you and believing in you, that is what I see.

Over these past five years we’ve come a long way. Our country is heading in the right direction, thanks to that partnership with you.

Together we will lay the roads and rail our country needs to grow, we will equip our young people with the skills they need to succeed, and we will rebalance the economy so that it is divided not by wealth but by economic specialism.

And while the right policies are important, just as important is a government which understands that business is the ultimate source of our wealth, security and freedom as a nation. That without the entrepreneurial drive to solve other peoples’ problems, and be rewarded for doing so, without the constant transfer of ideas from drawing board, to assembly line, to catalogue and shop window, nothing else is possible.

We understand, and we know that with right support from us, you can make Britain the most prosperous major economy in the world. And in reaching that goal we will always be by your side.

Speech: Securing Portsmouth Future

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 11:34:06 +0000

It’s a pleasure to be back in Portsmouth to talk about where this city is going.

In many ways, Portsmouth’s story is the story of the wider British economy over the last few years. Yes there’s been an economic shock, but we’ve come out fighting, unbowed and undaunted.

When jobs were here threatened we took swift action, creating a Minister for Portsmouth and putting a plan in place to secure this city’s future.

Look what’s already been achieved:

a ministerial taskforce dedicated to Portsmouth
an industry-led Solent Maritime Forum
assisted area status for Portsmouth, Gosport and the Isle of Wight
£18 million for an Enterprise Zone
£18 million from the Growing Places Fund
2000 jobs in naval base management secured
Regional Growth Fund projects worth £50 million
£5 million to reskill those affected by the BAE decision
3 commercial bids shortlisted for the BAE shipyard, with a decision to follow soon
supporting a national headquarters for elite sailing
driving forward a National Large Structures Composite Centre
2 new aircraft carriers and the world’s most advanced destroyers berthed at Portsmouth
a city deal worth nearly a billion for Portsmouth and Southampton
and the Solent Growth Deal: at least 5000 jobs, and 10,000 new homes and a massive boost to transport infrastructure - creating a total new investment package of £484.6 million for the Solent area

And the result? In this city: 1,200 people off benefits and into work over the past year. A 31% fall in unemployment. The number of job seeker allowance claimants down from 4077 to 2850. And 7000 new apprentices since we took office.

No other city gets this attention at the heart of government. No city has seen faster progress. No other era has delivered more for Portsmouth.

Today I want to talk to you about my vision for Portsmouth and 3 elements that will safeguard its success: enterprise, skills, and physical place.

First, enterprise.

It’s within our grasp to make the UK the best place in the world to set up a business. Over 2 million businesses have set up in Britain since May 2010. That includes 47,000 new businesses in the Solent LEP area - 10,000 alone in 2013.

The challenge now is how to help those new businesses scale-up and grow.

In particular, we need to look at high-growth small businesses, which account for only 1% of the business population but create over a third of all net new jobs. Many of these firms are based here, taking advantage of an unrivalled maritime skills base, and it’s vital that we back them.

That means getting the right tax and regulatory environment, delivering on skills and bringing industry and government together to think long-term about local economic priorities, as we’ve done through the Solent LEP.

We also need to build a pipeline of entrepreneurial talent.

Today marks the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a week set aside each November to inspire people in 150 countries to explore their potential as entrepreneurs.

Last year, nearly 350,000 people got involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week in the UK, and I congratulate UK organisers on winning Country of the Year for 2013. I know that this year will also be a triumph.

Second, skills. For a city built on maritime engineering it’s crucial that we have the right workforce.

Last week I announced that Portsmouth’s Highbury College will form part of the first national UK Shale College.

These centres of excellence will train a generation of onshore oil and gas specialists, helping us seize an economic opportunity which we literally can’t afford to miss.

Membership of the National Shale College will ensure that Highbury College is brilliantly placed to deliver that expertise, setting up thousands of local young people for a career in this exciting new sector.

Third, place.

As Minister for Portsmouth I am committed to ensuring this city has the space and infrastructure it needs to remain a centre for advanced manufacturing.

We recently announced £7.5 million to support Sir Ben Ainslie’s proposal to base his Americas Cup team in Portsmouth.

We’ve also negotiated a growth deal with the Solent LEP which will see £125 million invested locally and create over 5000 jobs.

And today I can announce a major milestone in the delivery of the Southampton and Portsmouth City Deal.

The deal is providing more than £950 million of public and private investment and contracts and being exchanged today between Portsmouth City Council and the Ministry of Defence for the transfer of Horsea Island and the Tipner Firing Range. Unlocking this site creates space for 2,370 new homes and 58,000 square meters of employment space for the growing marine and advanced manufacturing sectors of the Solent economy. It will create 3,700 permanent jobs.

The future of Portsmouth is as important to me as it is to everyone in this room. We know what we need to get there: entrepreneurs ready to create the jobs, people with the skills to secure them, space for these people to live and work.

Portsmouth is on the rise. The city’s docks and shipyards have safeguarded Britain for centuries. Now, through the measures I’ve outlined, I’m determined to ensure they help secure our economic future.

Speech: Supporting Britain's public sector talent

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 11:07:00 +0000

Before I say anything else, I want to start with a thank you. The work you and other public sector workers do is hard. You don’t do it because you want an easy life. You don’t do it because it’s a cushy job. You do it because, when you get home at the end of the day, you want to know you’ve made a difference. And you have.

Read New support for public sector workers for a summary of the measures announced.

You can’t get more at the sharp end than being the social worker trying to protect a child at risk of violence or abuse; the fire fighter running into a burning building when everyone else is running out; the nurse, doctor or paramedic battling to save the life of someone who’s barely holding on; the teacher seizing on a spark of interest in a class of boisterous teenagers; the policy expert figuring out how we keep the lights on for the next hundred years; the council worker dedicated to saving their local high street or securing essential local services; the probation and prison officers patiently working to turn the life around of someone who has only ever known a life of crime or drug addiction.

This is just a snapshot of the incredible things that you and the rest of Britain’s 5 million public sector workers do every day. For that, you deserve our enduring respect and gratitude. Whatever the pressures, no matter how hard the challenges, you keep our country going and I want to thank you on behalf of myself, my party and the government.

Your contribution is even more remarkable given that – over the last 4 years, in the wake of the biggest financial crisis in living memory, with our public services having to absorb significant spending cuts – every public service has had to do more with less.

In coalition, we’ve had to take difficult decisions on pay and pensions as we deal with the deficit – because there is nothing remotely fair or public spirited about saddling our children and grandchildren with those debts.

You’ve had to make personal sacrifices – to keep more of your colleagues in work and protect essential services for those who need them most.

As a result of those decisions, those sacrifices, our country is back on track. Our country is growing again. More people are in work than ever before.

And while a lot of families are still feeling the squeeze, we are finally through the fire. Up and down the country, people can once again look to their future with hope.

Securing the future of Britain’s public services

The question is: what next? The job’s not done. We’ve still got a way to go to pay down the deficit and, if the last 5 years were about securing Britain’s recovery, the next 5 years must be about moving from a period of rescue to a period of renewal. How do we learn to live within our means while providing people with the innovative and world class public services they deserve?

That is one of the central questions all political parties must answer at the next general election, and each one of the UK’s main political parties has a different response.

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I believe in sound public finances supporting strong public services. I recognise that to build a stable, more balanced economy and a fairer society in Britain, we need both our public sector and private sector to thrive together, and we see you – Britain’s public servants – as our partners in this.

Without growing businesses and the taxes we pay, we don’t have the money to invest in good hospitals and schools. Without educated children and healthy adults, there wouldn’t be growing businesses.

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And while I would love to come here today to tell you this means immediate relief from the pressure you’ve been under on pay, you know as well as I do, it simply isn’t possible yet.

That is why I think IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) should not grant a pay rise to MPs while everyone else in the public sector has their pay rises restricted and I have told them so.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel: once the deficit is gone and public spending is growing, my party will be able to deliver a better financial deal for all those who work in our public services.

In the meantime, I believe there are concrete steps we can take now as we finish that journey and build some of the best, most resilient and innovative public services in the world. I’m talking about, first, cutting unnecessary red tape to help reduce your workloads; second, giving you more support to deal with the particular stresses and strains that your roles bring; and, finally, ensuring the public sector offers you modern, progressive workplaces.

Workload Challenge for teachers

Firstly, every time I speak to a teacher, nurse, social worker, Jobcentre Plus manager, police officer or council worker one issue comes up again and again: their battle with bureaucracy.

Take teaching. Some people are still under the misguided impression that it’s a profession built around short days and long holidays. But talk to a teacher and they’ll tell you about their working week of 50 hours or more. They’ll also tell you how much of this time they feel is wasted on unnecessary processes, box ticking and form filling.

We’re talking about hours spent struggling to stay on top of piles of incident reports, over-detailed lesson plan templates, health and safety forms, departmental updates, training requests and so on that threaten to engulf them every week. Not to mention the reams of additional evidence which teachers pull together because of a long-held belief that Ofsted inspectors want to see everything written down.

Some of this work is unavoidable. Every school needs to ensure the safety of its pupils and staff and maintain the highest standards possible. But should you really have to fill in multiple risk assessment forms for every school trip when just one form would be better?

Ask any teacher and they’ll give you at least 2 more examples like that: whether it’s having to highlight their lesson plans in five different colours or inputting every pupil’s marks into countless different spreadsheets in countless different ways at regular points in the year.

I believe it’s time for us to stop that runaway train of bureaucracy in its tracks, giving our teachers more time to do what they do best: creating and planning the best possible lessons and experiences for our children. In government, we’ve already done this for businesses: freeing up money and resources for millions of companies.

We want to do the same for the public sector – starting with teachers. This is part of the wider work being done by Nicky Morgan and David Laws to tackle the issue of workload across the teaching profession, following talks with trade unions.

It has already produced a new myth busting document from Ofsted, which clarifies what’s expected of teachers for school inspections.

And, today, I’m pleased to announce with Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, the launch of our new Workload Challenge for teachers.

We’re asking teachers across the country to take a long hard look at how they spend their working day and what pointless processes and paperwork they think should be cut or scrapped altogether.

We want you to then send us your ideas via the Workload Challenge page available on the TES website.

In the New Year, a panel led by teachers and educators will scrutinise the best ideas, then work with Ofsted, the teaching unions and other leading education stakeholders to put them into action starting early next year.

If we can show this pilot working in education, I want to get it rolled out as soon as possible to all our other services too.

At the same time as our challenge is running, we’ve also got teams going into 30 schools to look in more detail at what’s happening on the ground.

Based on the teams’ findings, we’ll continue to work with a cross-section of schools and the teaching unions to highlight best practice and develop tips and tools every school can use to tackle unnecessary workload, whilst also maintaining the highest standards of teaching and management.

Frontline mental health support

Secondly, as well as easing your workloads where we can, I want to do more to help you deal with the specific pressures and demands that come with your different roles.

Many of you choose to work in the public sector because, when you see someone in trouble or in need of support, you want to step in and help. Yet being that person day in and day out – dealing with people who are often disengaged, frustrated, angry or at risk of hurting themselves or other people – can take its toll.

These kinds of pressures are especially acute for Britain’s emergency service workers. Our ambulance workers, paramedics, firemen, police, the Coastguard all get thrown in to incredibly stressful and harrowing situations such as road accidents, suicides, the loss of a young child, and a terrorist attack.

When calls like these come, they need to be ready and, when the shift ends, they go home to their families and try to be a good partner, friend, mum or dad. But if there’s no way of dealing with the day’s challenges, the pressure can become too much – leading to mental health issues.

In the most extreme circumstances, this causes burn out and people leaving the job altogether. In discussions with the government, workers from across our blue-light services have told us that they want more support to prevent and deal with these mental and emotional demands.

Throughout this coalition, I’ve fought for the resources to secure equal treatment for mental health with physical health. In the emergency services, you’re given protective gloves, masks, stab vests, fire fighting kit etc, as well procedures to follow to keep you physically safe. I want to give you that same high standard of protection for your mental health.

That is why I’ve asked the mental health organisation Mind to work with our emergency services personnel to develop and trial a new package of Frontline Mental Health support.

This will include practical tools emergency service workers can use to cope with the strain of working relentlessly busy shifts, answering traumatic call outs, helping grieving relatives and keeping the public safe, healthy and well.

We know this kind of support has already had a huge impact in other countries and services, for example the US Army – where, since 2008, resilience training has helped to reduce rates of anxiety and depression amongst over 1 million soldiers. But it’s not been tried and tested in the UK on this scale before.

We aim to start this pilot in the spring and roll it out across our emergency services more widely as soon as we can.

Mind are already working with employers to raise awareness of mental health problems and reduce stigma, through their Time to Change programme, and I would urge those public sector bodies still to sign up to Time to Change to do so now.

Modern, engaging workplaces

Finally, I recognise that you can’t get the best public services without the best people, and every day we’re competing with the private sector for your talent and skills.

To ensure you stick with us, we need our public services to be offering some of the best places to work in the UK. This means modern, engaging workplaces which look beyond just qualifications to see your potential; give you the chance to progress as far as your talents and ambition can take you; and help you strike that balance between managing the demands of your job and home – whether that’s caring for a sick relative, bringing up children or just leading a more balanced life.

When this government started, for too many young people, it was still a case of who you know not what you know that secured your access to valuable work experience or internship opportunities in the civil service.

Since 2010, we’ve focused hard on levelling that playing field for all young people. This includes establishing 2 new work experience programmes, which give school and college students a chance to see for themselves what working in government is like and gain vital professional experience and skills.

We’ve stopped the informal internships arrangements in government which only gave a leg up to those with insider contacts: ensuring that all of our civil service internship places are advertised widely and openly.

In addition, we’ve expanded the number of places available on our Summer Diversity Internship scheme – which targets young people from ethnic minorities or poorer backgrounds – from 175 to 300.

We’ve also created our new fast-track apprenticeship scheme. As you know, for years, the civil service has recruited its future leaders through the tried and tested route of the Graduate Fast-Stream Scheme. But university isn’t for everyone. Many talented young people want to earn while they learn and, if we’re serious about recruiting the brightest and best out there, we need to ensure they get a shot at the top jobs too.

Based on this scheme’s early success, we’ve already doubled the number of fast-track apprenticeship places available in the civil service from 100 to 200 – with plans to double them again to 400 by 2016.

In the coming months, I want to see the scale and reach of these schemes – along with those you’re part of – grow right across our public services. They’ve got to, if we want to secure a diverse public sector built on merit, equipped to challenge outdated thinking, drive innovation and deliver better public services.

Shared Parental Leave

For me, it’s critical that people who choose to work in the public sector know that they’re working in modern, progressive workplaces. That is why I think it’s also important we do more to support public sector workers balancing the demands of modern life.

As you know, from April next year, under our new shared parental leave arrangements, if you’re a new mum who wants to return to work before your 12 months of maternity leave is up, or go back to work for a particular project, you can without losing out.

Your partner will be entitled to use your remaining parental leave and pay, if that’s what you both want. You can even – as parents – take chunks of time off together.

It’s up to individual employers to decide the extra pay and support they can give to their employees during this shared parental leave period. Ideally, I want to see every public sector organisation doing what they can to help their employees take full advantage of these new rules.

I pushed for the introduction of shared parental leave in the first place, because we fundamentally believe it’s time for us to sweep away the outdated regulations and prejudices which still limit the choices of too many people in this country. Evidence shows promoting flexible working patterns like this can help boost employee productivity, loyalty and retention.

To help get that revolution started in the public sector, working with Francis Maude and the Cabinet Office, I’ve been pushing hard for radical reforms to the way in which the civil service pays and supports its staff after their children are born.

So, I’m pleased to confirm that, from April 2015, the civil service will be offering equal parental pay and support to all its employees – male and female. As result, it will no longer just be new mums working in the civil service who can take maternity leave at full pay. Dads will also be able to benefit from enhanced pay for shared parental leave, if both parents choose to carve up their time between them.

This means more fathers will be able to afford to take time off to spend caring for their new born children. More widely, I want to see this change blaze a trail for other public and private sector organisations to follow – making this option the norm for more working families and increasing the opportunities available to both sexes to earn and care across our society.

And this shouldn’t just be about parents. With an ageing population, there are increasing numbers of people living with long-term medical conditions and receiving care from their family members.

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This builds on our successful work in government to extend the right to flexible working to everyone, and again I’d like to see more organisations across the public sector and private sector offering more flexible working arrangements to their employees to help family carers juggle their commitments at work and home and stay healthy themselves.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the jobs you do aren’t easy. They’re not for the faint hearted, but you do them because you want to make a difference. I hear that in every job centre, hospital, school, police station, prison and public sector office I visit.

Britain just wouldn’t work without you. That’s why I believe it’s so critical to give you the professional opportunities and support you need to keep doing your jobs well.

This is my commitment and that of my party to you: we’ll keep doing what we can to ensure our government empowers, values and listens to you more.

Only, together, working as partners, can we finish the job we’ve started and finish it fairly: building the stronger economy and fairer society Britain needs to succeed.

Thank you.

Speech: Improving the UK's industrial future

Mon, 20 Oct 2014 14:42:37 +0000

Can I thank you for what you said. This is a really great positive occasion. Something we can celebrate. There aren’t many occasions when government and business is entirely on the same page and in agreement and indeed across the business sector. And it’s even more unusual when you get political parties agreeing. We just had several weeks of tribal warfare at our party conferences but actually this is something we agree about and when I launched this at the beginning of the government it was with the support of my Conservative colleagues. So we have a broad support for an approach, which we haven’t had in this country for many years – decades.

I think there are 2 really very simple ideas at the heart of this.

One is that there are major areas of policy where government and business have to work together and of course, in many respects, business does its own thing and the best role for government is to get out of the way. But there are some respects in which we have to work together. One is skill development. Another is science and innovation. Another is on government procurement – making sure that it is strategic in the way that it operates and as we continue to be with the legacy of the banking crisis, there is common interest in making sure that we get flows of finance, particularly to the SME sector. So there are areas where we have to work on a partnership basis.

And the other big idea is long term thinking. I have now been in Parliament for quite a long time, but I still haven’t quite got over my shock when I came out of a big company in the oil and gas sector - where we did 20 year planning - and entering the political world - where of course we regard 5 years as heroically long term. Of course it isn’t just the politicians you know – asset managers, the media think in terms of hours let alone years so there are enormous pressures to think short term. But for many of the companies represented in this room we have to think long term. Long beyond the political cycle and the purpose of an Industrial Strategy is to do that. It’s to get business and government working together and to do within the long term time frame.

One of the innovative elements in the approach we have adopted is to think in terms of sectors – initially there was a lot of tut tutting about this – do we really have to pick winners and so on. But actually it became perfectly natural to concentrate attention on certain sectors of the economy that were organised in that way. We had the Automotive Council, we had already collaborative relations in aerospace and we have extended that approach to the energy supply chains and to others. And this is predominantly about manufacturing but it’s not only. Some of the most successful bits of the Industrial Strategy relate for example to the creative industries or to professional services or to education – particularly higher education seen as an export industry. And others have grown up spontaneously. It became obvious to the people who were operating in the railway sector that a lot was happening – a lot of investment was taking place and for goodness sake let’s try and deal with this in a more strategic way and so the railway income sector as come together in very much an industrial strategy manner. And the same thing has happened in chemicals that were hitherto rather fragmented and if the foundation industries that Katja described feel somewhat beleaguered as they are because of cost pressures then it would be absolutely right and sensible that we work with them in a similar way.

So that’s the basic philosophy. I think as a result of it, we have some good concrete results. Real collaborations happening – they are not just words. If you take the most obvious and advanced of them, the aerospace sector has produced this £2 billion joint 50:50 government/private sector collaboration to develop the next generation of R and D in the industry. We shouldn’t underestimate this. I came into government and sat down with the industry shortly afterwards and they said look you know your R and D in the aerospace sector is steadily declining. There is no way that the UK is going to retain its position as the number 2 aerospace country in the world – you’re sliding down the scale, you’ve got to do something about it. And it’s got to involve a long term commitment. So we now have a 10 year commitment, joint by both sectors, in order to strengthen our position in engines and wings in the longer term.

The same thing has happened in the automobile industry – there are people in this room like me who are long enough to remember when the car industry was a joke, something we were embarrassed about. It’s now one of our most successful industries – an enormous amount of capital is now being invested not just by the OEMs but further through the supply chain. I think £6 to £8 billion in the last few years and again there are the big high profile projects which we all know about like at Land Rover, the big investment in Ford (I’m going to Dagenham later this morning with the Prime Minister with a big new engine project). The smaller things which are not on the radar – I’ve just come back from India where I met an Indian car company – high quality car compenents company – AMTEC which is investing in Kidderminster to create 500 new jobs in a foundry supporting the new Wolverhampton engine plant. So these are real things and lying behind it is a joint project between government and the industry – the Advanced Propulsion Project, which is creating the next generation power train based on low carbon technology. And there are similar things happening in bioscience, in the energy supply chains - for example, the Siemens project for turbine development on Humberside is very much linked into this strategic approach that I’ve described to you.

Let me just briefly review some of the ways in which we are trying to take forward – what I call - public private partnership writ large. First of all we recognise that training skills is an absolutely massive issue. Wherever I go now I am told by companies that skill shortage is probably the most important single break on their expansion and it does involve a multi-faceted approach. It involves fairly toxic issues like immigration on which I think Katja has said the right things. But what we are trying to do is to help business to develop through expansion of the apprenticeship programme. I think one of the first big decisions I took in government when we had to make big cuts right from the beginning – we’ve cut our department by 25% - but despite that to invest more in apprenticeship training.

We’ve now got 2 million who will have gone through schemes under this government and we’re now trying to focus it much more on advanced higher apprenticeships where the real skill bottlenecks are and to make it much more ‘employer led’ and we have – what we call – an Employer Ownership scheme and I’m able to announce a package of funding for 6 companies in the car supply chain. I’ve got the names of the companies here – Benteler, Brose, Getrag, Gestamp, Nifco and Unipres – there are the sort of tier 2 companies which are in danger of losing their skilled workers because of being cannibalised within the industry but this will help to reinforce their skill development.

So skills is one area which we are trying to deal with through a big expansion of apprenticeships, through the focus on STEM – which Katja referred to. I absolutely endorse what she said about the importance of getting women into engineering both through apprenticeships and graduate level. It’s a fact that we shouldn’t be proud of as a country - that of all the 28 countries in the European Union we are the worst in terms of women in engineering and we’ve really got to combat that. So skill training is one area. The second is helping supply chain development. There is a lot of funding issues around some of the smaller tier 2 companies still can’t get credit from the banks and we’ve launched a substantial programme – I think £245 million so far – helping to finance supply chain capital. We think in the process we may have saved or generated something in the order of 15,000 jobs and that’s an on-going programme.

Thirdly, and again both Mark and Katja referred to it is Britain’s performance in innovation and R and D . We are in danger of slipping down the international leagues table and we have tried to arrest that by making this very strong commitment to the science budget, which has been ring-fenced. And also by setting up the chain of Catapult Centres, which I think has been a great success - loosely based on the German Franhoffer model but adapted very much to British conditions - in which advanced manufacturing did a lot of the pioneering work. That has been expanded and later this year we will have 2 more centres rolled out – we’ve now got 7, the next will be on energy storage and stratified or crystallised medicine.

I think fourthly finance. The British Business Bank, which you don’t see on the high street but is basically a sort of virtual bank which is putting funding into new sources of business finance, peer to peer lending, crowd funding platforms, supporting some of the new banks that are coming through the system and which are absolutely crucial to the smaller companies, which cannot raise either loan or equity financing by conventional means.

Fifth, recognising the particular issues around energy intensive industries. We do realise a lot of those industries – the foundation industries – are under the cosh because they are competing on price. Energy is relatively expensive. We have been trying to address through a compensation mechanism, which we have now developed – cash is being paid out but no doubt we will be told that a great deal more should be done.

So we have a whole series of policy initiatives in those areas. I’d just like to conclude by acknowledging the point which Katja made in her introduction. Which is how do we try to create for the business community as much certainty and policy stability as possible because, you know, there is risk out there. Many of you are struggling with exchange rate issues – the pound is in danger of getting overvalued again. Not a great deal that government can or should do about that. We can’t manipulate exchange rates but it’s a risk that business is running if you’re in international trade. There is issues around the Eurozone growth where there are some rather pessimistic predictions coming out. Now those are business risks which you’ve got to live with in in any event but what we need to try to ensure is that gratuitous risk creation isn’t being generated by government. We’ve just narrowly avoided difficulty in relation to Scotland. A good outcome but it created a period of hiatus for a lot of companies. We’ve now got similar risk which we really must minimise about doubts created over our membership of the European Single Market and there are perfectly good challenges, which you put to us about lack of clarity or consistency in relation to infrastructure projects. We do recognise we need to do better on that front.

But can I thank you all for coming. Thanks to CBI and GE and I look forward to getting feedback and questions from you.

Speech: Expanding our Industrial Strategy for a better future for Britain

Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:00:00 +0000

Fifteen years ago, when I was working in my family’s small IT business, the idea that today, Britain would have a major conference, with all major parties, most major companies, hosted by one of the major employers’ groups, with a broad consensus of support behind the idea of an industrial strategy - that idea would have been astonishing.

But more, that a conference like this on industrial strategy is regarded as forward looking, enterprising and dynamic would have been more surprising still.

Five years ago, when I entered Parliament, the idea that today, Britain could commit to become the best place in the world to start and grow a business, that idea would have been incredible.

But it is now possible. And in part that is thanks to our Industrial Strategy.

It shows how far we have come. That the dreams of Michael Heseltine have led not just to individual successes, like in the Docklands of London and Liverpool, but are now the basis of a whole approach to building Britain’s businesses.

So, building on the work of Michael Hestletine, Peter Mandleson, George Osborne and Vince Cable, let us today together commit to build on the success of our Industrial Strategy, and project it forward into the next decade.

I want to set out my party’s approach to industrial strategy, why we back it so passionately, and how we will strengthen it, expand it, and build on the start that it’s had.

But before I set out how, I just want to say a word about why.

For a long time, certainly under most of the previous government, an argument held sway that an industrial strategy meant a return to the past and picking winners, and instead government should be neutral.

I believe that argument has itself been consigned to history.

Yes, when it was first made in the 1980s, there were good reasons for this. As a theory, it has merit.

And it was born of the need to modernise our economy and stop subsidising failing enterprises.

But it went too far.

For we can all recognise that government has an imprint on industry simply by existing.

How we regulate pharmaceuticals is different to how we regulate construction, or finance, or any other sector you care to mention.

Where we choose to put our infrastructure has a sectoral impact, whether we like it or not.

So government has an industrial impact. Let us be strategic about that impact.

Rather than pretending we can be neutral, we should be as intelligent as we can about how we use that footprint to secure jobs, opportunity and long-term prosperity.

In skills, finance, procurement and science that means using the power of government to open up markets and break new ground.

Of course where taxpayers’ money is used value for money matters.

And the best guide to getting value for money is to ensure private capital goes in alongside public.

We’ve followed these principles now for the past 4 years. And the results are clear:

The value of the cars we export is outstripping imports for the first time in my lifetime. And we’ve seen more positive news with more jobs in Dagenham today.

Pharmaceuticals are growing; manufacturing jobs are re-shoring; our aerospace industry is growing at over 9% a year - almost triple the global average.

So how should we go further?

Open source industrial strategy

First, recognising that there is more to industrial strategy than manufacturing. We want a modern industrial strategy that reflects the modern economy.

We’re committed to offering support to all sectors of the economy, not just one. We need an open source industrial strategy.

We want to broaden its scope, cover the whole economy, and offer for the first time a business led industrial strategy in any sector that wants one.

So if your sector needs an industrial strategy, let us know.

Industrial strategy is a partnership between government and business, and it’s a partnership of equals.

The dialogue has to be open, business led, and lead to real results.

When we came to office, communication between business and government was too often ad hoc and informal.

Our sector councils have formalised this dialogue, providing a structure for interaction from the very top of government to the most detailed working level.

This year, for example, we set up the Tourism Council.

We have just set up the Rail Supply Group to build the supply chain for our railways including HS2 .

And we are working alongside the metals industry, including steel, as they develop their strategy.

Open source means open to the whole sector too. In future, every sector council will include representatives of both small and of medium size businesses. They have different needs, and must be at the top table.

This open source approach is already reflected in our skills policy. We recognise that apprenticeships add value in all sectors, including new areas like healthcare, accountancy and the media.

Just as in this Parliament we’ve doubled the number of apprenticeships from 1 million to 2 million, we are today setting out how we will go further, to 3 million in the next Parliament, to train young people so they have what it takes to get the jobs that are increasingly available.

As well as more apprenticeships, crucially we’ve asked employers in sectors from finance to food, retail to steel, literally to rewrite the apprenticeship rulebook – replacing complex skills frameworks with shorter, clearer training standards, written for employers by employers.

Small businesses must be involved.

Clusters

So, first, our Industrial Strategy must be open source.

Second, we must unambiguously back success where we find it.

It sounds obvious, but too often in the past there was a sense that government would look at an area with a particular strength and conclude that it didn’t need help.

Or worse, it would complain that if one area had a strength, it somehow wasn’t fair and needed to be spread to other parts.

By contrast we’re committed to backing success wherever we find it, so where a cluster exists we want to double down.

So we are backing clusters, from life sciences in Cambridge, to defence and aerospace in Portsmouth, to oil in Aberdeen.

Perhaps the greatest example of this is our vision for a Northern powerhouse.

Clusters are supported by the privately-led LEPs .

And as they entrench and mature, it is vital LEPs must maintain the same business-led approach, and remain dynamic, open, and flexible.

Backing business

So, industrial strategy has a bright future.

But I have a warning.

Industrial strategy does not work on its own.

It cannot replace a strong business environment.

You can’t have a successful industrial strategy without a successful economic strategy.

You can’t duck the big issues, like the deficit, or bringing certainty to our relationship with Europe through a renegotiation then a referendum on that renegotiated relationship.

And you don’t strengthen an industrial strategy with anti-business rhetoric or action.

Attacking wealth creation, proposing higher taxes on business, punitive proposals setting business against business.

These things have no place in a pro-business government.

They undermine industrial strategy.

And anyway, they are mistaken.

Because business is a force for social good.

Not only does it create jobs and opportunity, it supports that Great British ethic of something for something. Profit is a measure of success in finding solutions to other peoples’ problems.

So our belief in industrial strategy is motivated by our belief in business.

But we know there’s more to do.

We want to expand, strengthen and build on that strategy. We want all businesses, all sectors of our economy to know that government is on their side, backing their ambitions, standing up for their success.

For that is how we shall secure a better and brighter future for Britain.

Speech: Matthew Hancock speech on Industrial Strategy

Mon, 13 Oct 2014 16:01:46 +0000

Intro

Today I want to talk about why we back an industrial strategy, and what this means for both advanced manufacturing and wider economy.

As Minister for Portsmouth I’m delighted to be back, because this city is a great place to make this argument.

You’ve been at the cutting edge of maritime technology since the ninth century, when King Alfred came here to supply his fleet with bigger and faster longships than those in use by the Vikings.

It was an early instance of the Anglo-Saxon model proving more efficient than its Nordic counterpart.

Later, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Portsmouth perfected the art of fighting sail; in the twentieth century it was home to the Royal Navy’s first submarines and the revolutionary dreadnought battleship.

But far from basking in old glory, you remain at the cutting edge.

Your response to change has been extraordinary. Faced with difficult decisions over shipbuilding, you have picked yourselves up, dusted yourselves off, and reinvented yourselves anew.

Cutting edge marketing industries. Leading in autonomous vessels, new composite materials, and even here the space industry.

Space is now a vital part of Britain’s industrial landscape.

It contributes £11.3 billion to the economy each year and employs more than 35,000 people, a large proportion of them here at Airbus Defence and Space - the largest satellite manufacturing company in Europe.

And this government is committed to capturing 10 percent of the global market for space technology and services by 2030: a £40 billion industry and 100,000 new jobs for the UK.

See Inside Manufacturing Announcement

Today marks the beginning of a month of SIM events. The programme has expanded from one sector in 2011, to now include all manufacturing sectors.

Last year 6,300 young people and their teachers took part in over 175 visits and events throughout the UK.

The programme will now carry on throughout the year.

Airbus Defence and Space – and many other manufacturers around the country - are helping inspire next generation of engineers by hosting SIM events.

This is being done with the unwavering support of our industrial policy.

It is a strength for our country that our industrial strategy is now supported by a strong cross party consensus.

Whether we like it not, government impacts different businesses differently. While some regulations are generic, others affect only the sector to which they apply. Government is a major customer. We make decisions that affect business over infrastructure, tax and as the main provider of education and skills.

For better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, those decisions inevitably have sector specific impact.

Portsmouth isn’t a major centre for advanced manufacturing by accident, but because it’s where successive governments have chosen to locate our most advanced surface ships.

Aberdeen is the world centre for offshore oil. It’s a huge asset to our country so let’s double down and back it.

By contrast, poor regulation of our banking sector had a catastrophic impact in the crash six years ago.

So rather than pretending we don’t have a footprint, we need to think intelligently about how we use that footprint to secure jobs, opportunity and long-term prosperity.

I pay tribute to the work Lord Hestletine and Vince Cable have done in the past, and the huge effort of my predecessor Michael Fallon.

In skills, finance, procurement and science let us pull in harness with business, work hand in glove, and promote the best of British.

It’s all part of our long-term economic plan to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business.

And it has wider purpose: to back job creators and wealth creators so we can prosper as a nation in an increasingly competitive world.

Backing success what does this mean in practice?

First, dialogue

When we came to office we found no formalised way for business and government to engage, in detail and in partnership.

Yet without that dialogue we cannot listen to the needs of business, and respond to them.

Getting this dialogue right is a crucial starting point, because if you don’t talk, you can’t then do.

It’s important to get it right.

It can’t just be at the top - though it must go right to the top. Dialogue needs to be drilled down to every level.

It can’t just be with some, typically big, players, but must be open to the concerns of a whole sector.

It can’t just be about the government on broadcast, but if anything is more important for the government to listen, and listen hard.

Our industrial councils formalise this dialogue, and provide a structure for interaction from the very top of government to the most detailed working level.

Second, the chequebook matters

Whether in terms of finance through the British Business Bank, regional support through the Growth fund, training through Apprenticeships, support for research through our protected science budget, or direct procurement, it is important government thinks carefully and strategically about how we spend taxpayers money.

Value for money matters.

This is not government cash but taxpayers’ hard earned cash after all. Probity and even handedness are crucial.

But to get the best value for money we should be active in thinking about and understanding the consequences of spending.

And when I say the chequebook matters, what I mean is that both the government and the private chequebook matters.

Taxpayer contributions can bring heft and recognition.

But the best guarantor of good value is for any taxpayer cash to sit alongside cash contribution from the private sector.

Take science.

The billion pound annual taxpayer budget has been protected, but is only part of the story. Working alongside business and using the best possible independent research, we have identified eight great technologies likely to have a huge future impact. We are backing those technologies, and the role Britain can play. We are doing that alongside private investment, to ensure we double down on ideas others are backing, rather than trying to push water uphill.

Government can add scale and firepower to double down on British strengths.

So we’ve committed £4 billion to support the development and commercialisation of technologies where the UK has the expertise and business capability to become a world leader, from robotics to regenerative medicine, advanced propulsion to aerospace.

We’ve come in with £395 million to support nine Catapult innovation centres, alongside private cash, aimed at turning at research into commercial reality.

Through the Defence Growth Partnership government and industry are working together to harness the wealth of capability and innovation that resides in the UK defence industry – to capture the value defence procurement brings for new market opportunities and grow high value jobs.

As part of the DGP ’s initial set of launch projects we are establishing a UK Centre for Maritime Intelligent Systems here in Portsmouth to develop world-leading capability in the growing maritime autonomous systems market.

Near here, the Solent is well placed to have a world beating marine and maritime industry. It has ports that lie just 20 miles from the world’s busiest shipping route from Shanghai to Rotterdam – and a business base, skills, traditions research and educational strengths that are second to none.

There is now a shared plan between government, local political and business leaders to unify and enhance the many elements of marine excellence in the region, to embrace the new technologies and seize the opportunities they bring, improving R&D, transport links, upgrading ports and ferry terminals and supporting Sir Ben Ainslie’s campaign to win the Americas cup for Portsmouth, all with the clear goal to build on the pride, heritage and ambition of the region.

Third, it’s not just about the money

Improving regulation is a constant effort of looking at the detail, from the primary legislation or European Directive, through individual regulations, how well written and understandable is the guidance, it’s interpretation on the ground, and how it’s enforced in practice.

We are determined to improve this..

And we can only do this if we listen to business. In some areas this is a matter of straightforward deregulation.

In others, there are important public policy goals we as a society want to achieve. Businesses get that. But there are often ways we can deliver the same results so much better.

This is especially important for smaller firms which don’t have dedicated public affairs arms.

So our One In Two Out rule is delivering, ensuring we are on track for this to be the first Parliament in modern history that lowers the burden of domestic regulation.

Our Red Tape Challenge, invites firms to identify regulations they think should be scrapped or amended. So far, we’re reforming or removing over 3000 regulations, saving business almost a billion pounds a year. But there are more to do. We have introduced a growth duty into all non economic regulators, and will give a director a specific duty to be the small business champion in each.

Our guidance re-write has taken thousands of pages of guidance and put it into plain English.

But these thousands of pages are but the foothills of the mountains of guidance that need translating into plain English.

Our focus on enforcement reviews are now led by business directly in technology and agriculture so employers themselves can tell us where heavy handed enforcement can be reformed to deliver the same regulatory outcomes, at a much lower cost to business.

We have started with twelve, but have hundreds more areas to cover and we welcome an approach from business or any industry body who wants to work with us to improve the enforcement of regulations.

In many areas, like health and safety, our myth busters help people to follow what the actual rules are, not some over the top interpretation, often given by consultants who rely on complex regulation to stay in business.

Our principle is clear: if you act reasonably, you should not fall foul of regulation, and it shouldn’t take some expensive consultant to tell you how to stay within the rules.

The work of regulatory reform never ceases, and there is much more to do, but we are changing the culture of Whitehall and listening to business: all part of our Industrial Strategy.

The fourth element is that clusters matter

Location location location isn’t just a tv show.

Through our Industrial Strategy we have turned on its head the government attitude to location.

Gone are the days when government would see an area with a particular strength in a sector, and complain it wasn’t diversified enough, that it didn’t need help as it was doing better than elsewhere, and that the success should be shifted to other parts.

By contrast, where we see success, we want to back it. Where a cluster exists, let us double it.

One of the ironies of the modern world is that more advanced communications have strengthened the need for technologies to cluster in close knit geographical communities with strong physical transport networks.

So we are backing clusters, using the privately led LEPs to back local strengths and local priorities, as part of and integrated with the national Industrial Strategy.

Support for all sectors, not just one

This approach of Industrial Strategy is working.

The value of the cars we export is outstripping imports for the first time in my lifetime. Our aerospace industry is growing at over 9% a year, almost triple the global average.

Pharmaceuticals are expanding.

But it would be a mistake to think of Industrial Strategy as a manufacturing concept.

Wherever people are putting their time, talent and energy into private enterprise we will back them; we are committed to offering support to all sectors of the economy, not just one.

It would be a mistake to limit the coverage of our industrial strategy.

For this reason, this year I set up the Tourism Industrial Council.

Tourism is a £127 billion industry that employs 3.1million people and it is the 5th largest export industry in the UK. They need a voice at the top table too.

I am committed to rebooting our national nuclear industry through Hinkley Point C.

Last week we got the green light from the EU Commission which was an important milestone on this journey. Hinkley has the potential to power nearly 6 million homes, create 25,000 jobs during construction alone and roughly 50% of the supply chain will be based here in the UK.

We are backing this development every step of the way as part of our Nuclear Industrial Strategy - bringing not just the power but the jobs and skills for new nuclear back to Britain where they belong.

We must spread the success of industrial strategy to all sectors that want them.

And while we have our ideas, this is a partnership. So if your sector needs an industrial strategy, let us know. Broadening the scope, drilling down into specific regional needs and bringing in new sectors is the future for our industrial strategy.

This open approach to an industrial strategy that reflects the modern economy is itself reflected in the approach we’re taking to its components too.

For example, the record growth of Apprenticeships was founded in a recognition that Apprenticeships add value in all sectors - from engineering to education, from space to spies.

And we have spread Apprenticeships to new areas previously untouched, like accountancy, the BBC and healthcare.

And we’ve asked employers – market leaders in sectors from finance to food, retail to steel - to literally rewrite the Apprenticeship rulebook.

They’re condensing hundreds of pages of complex, messy frameworks to a two-page description of the skills and behaviour employees should demonstrate in a particular industry and how they should be assessed.

Shorter, clearer, better standards written by employers for employers.

In your own sector, a new Defence apprenticeship standard will develop the standard for Masters-equivalent apprenticeships in advanced systems engineering.

We’ve just announced a National College specifically to train up the workers that will be building and operating HS2. And we will go further, making sure that each and every sector has the supply of talent it needs to grow – in turn opening up a wealth of skilled job opportunities to help build a better, more prosperous Britain.

Conclusion

So you can see that our industrial strategy is about more than just GDP.

Our Industrial strategy is a modern success story and we want to expand it.

It’s about advancing our society, pushing at the boundaries of human ingenuity and encouraging our young people to reach for the stars.

There’s still much more to do but if the history of this city proves anything it’s that British resolve, British enterprise and the British people will rise to the challenge.

Consultation outcome: Future development of loans in further education

Thu, 19 Jun 2014 10:30:00 +0000

Updated: Government response published.

We gathered views on proposals for a further expansion of loans in the further education sector. The proposed expansion aims to:

provide access to learning for the widest possible group of people
simplify the current funding system, so it is easy to understand, and learners have greater control over their learning choices
strengthen incentives for learners engaging in training and skills development
widen access and strengthen alignment with higher education funding

We also gathered feedback on how the current system is working and ideas for improving loans in further education more generally.

We are taking the time necessary to fully analyse a diverse set of responses to our recent consultation. We will ensure we make decisions in the context of wider government objectives. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) will publish its response early in the new year.

Guidance: Traineeships: eligible providers

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 14:14:00 +0000

Updated: Updated list of eligible providers for the traineeship programme.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Skills Funding Agency have jointly published the list of providers who are eligible to deliver the traineeship programme in 2015 to 2016.

Training organisations should work with an employer to deliver the work-placement element of the programme.

Guidance: Apprenticeship standards in development

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Updated: Updated occupations approved for the development of an apprenticeship standard.

Employers are encourage to be involved in trailblazer projects so that they can help develop new standards.

These documents are updated regularly to highlight new standards which have been approved for development.

Apprenticeship standards: changes to the process for approvals

Each month, all bids to develop new apprenticeships (Expressions of Interest), and draft apprenticeship standards received will now be open for public feedback before being assessed for approval. Go to the Apprenticeship standards: changes to the process for approvals page for more details and to access the latest survey.